الغش الديني سبيل الطقوسيين إلى الجنة

I don't know what to call it, so I chose to name it religious cheating, despite the contradiction between the two words (religion and cheating), as religion prohibits cheating. Therefore, theoretically, there cannot be such a thing as religious cheating. However, when a Muslim bribes a visa trader or a smuggler to take him to Mecca to perform a religious duty, this is blatant cheating. An adult Muslim knows that Hajj is obligatory for those who are able to undertake it, and the ability is either through financial means, physical health, or the availability of means, opportunities, security, and laws.

Where lies the problem for those who seek to perform Hajj by any means without considering the ethical aspect? They know for certain that the Saudi government has no interest in preventing a Muslim from fulfilling his religious duty, and these Muslims do not realize that bribing human traffickers is not just a trivial matter. The person who accepts a bribe is committing a criminal act. Anyone who works to smuggle pilgrims will not hesitate to smuggle anything for money.

How can this recurring issue be addressed? The problem is not just with Hajj. There is a general ethical problem that has been established for a long time. It has been entrenched after preachers separated religious rituals from their ethical and human dimensions. Many misleading fatwas have shattered the consciences of some people to the extent that the fatwa has taken the place of their innate consciences and ethics.

On a Friday morning at around ten o'clock, I was walking in one of the streets of Toronto, Canada, when I saw a mobile phone repair shop and remembered that the screen of my iPhone was broken, so I seized the opportunity to change it. I asked the shop owner, a young Afghan, about the cost of changing the screen, and he said: The original will cost you seventy dollars, and the imitation fifty dollars. I remembered that the price of the screen at the Apple Store is 150 dollars, so I asked him about the reason for this huge price difference, and he said: Apple and the Apple Store raise prices because of their name, their store location, and their greed, etc. I agreed to have the original installed, but he apologized because he was in a hurry. He wanted to go home to prepare for prayer at the mosque. Despite my attempts, he insisted, and I admired his faith. After the prayer, I returned to him, and he installed the screen. After many days, I was wandering in Chinatown when I saw a mobile phone repair shop and remembered my phone screen and my concern about the huge price difference with that religious Afghan. I decided to test the reality of this screen. I showed it to the Chinese man. He turned it over a bit and said, "This is imitation for fifty dollars." Then he said, "I have the original, but it will cost you one hundred and fifty dollars," and then he added, "Your phone is old, so there’s no need to replace the screen."

The Chinese man, I don't know what his religion is, was honest and advising with me, while the Muslim Afghan who was keen on prayer cheated me. I recalled countless cases in the Kingdom and in Muslim countries in general. You will see an exaggerated concern for rituals and ceremonies accompanied by a weakness in the ethical aspect. It is not strange for you to see someone—of whom there are many—throwing his car anywhere, blocking the road, and rushing to perform the prayer, disregarding people's need to pass. There is a significant separation between ethics and rituals among those I call "ritualists." For them, religion is merely a set of rituals that guarantees them entry into paradise, as assured by the preachers. A man who has performed the Hajj obligation perhaps five times still wants to perform Hajj even through cheating, deception, and bribery, then returns to his home glorifying and exalting, receiving congratulations and blessings.