There seems to be a difference between religion and faith. There’s a certain darkness to religion. Maybe I should have said that the difference is between religion and piety. Faith is too widespread. It’s too common a thread through the lives of people. We were made to believe, and some times it just seems that we’ll believe anything.

So then what is piety? Who is the pious man? And why then does religion seem unable to create or inspire piety in the observer? Is then piety simply something separate? Is it simply a deeper science or experience?

I ask these things because I’m unhappy by what I see in the religious world around me. Religiosity and external acts of belief and practice are increasing rapidly and all over the world. The secularists are shocked and horrified by the growing number of people professing a belief in the supernatural. But then the secularists, in their faith in their own reason, did not seem to realise that they too were followers of a belief system. And one that also had very little basis in rational or measurable reality, but only in what they wanted to believe was possible.

Is it in the hopes of escaping reality that we create untold systems through which to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are solving the insolvable? We are overwhelmed by the reality of life and seek refuge in self deception. The liberals create myths and the conservatives create myths, and then they all fall into desperate confusion when they start to realise that their own categorisations cannot encompass or explain much. So what is piety? Many people offer us the road to God and to purity. And yet every one of those systems shows and highlights the flaws of the others. The Muslim can show quite clearly why Christianity is deviation and falsehood. He can show evidence and proofs that are very convincing and yet when he turns to his own traditions he falls silent. His eyes shut. He feels that it is his duty to pursue faith and conviction. To believe against all doubts. To fight all uncertainty.

I had immediately hoped that the Shias held an antidote to that destructive method of thinking. That they above all would understand how history and politics distorts the message. That religion empowers and those that seek power are drawn to it. That once such men attain power they will perform all kinds of illusions and deceptions to maintain that power at all costs. They are willing to kill the message of the Prophets in order to maintain the bureaucracy of their system... Their privileges, hard won, are not easily relinquished. And in the process they abandon all faiths.

All Shias well know the tales of the Umayyads. They know well of their oppression and tyranny. They have countless tales of the righteous being destroyed for their love of truth. And they lament and they mourn. But it’s all a lie in the end. It’s all a lie, because once the Shias have gotten any kind of power they have behaved identically to their oppressors. They should know better. The Sunni’s live in self deception. They’ve been fed a self justifying system of tyrants to retroactively explain that the way things happened were the way they were always intended. But, as I have said, the Shias should know better.

Yet now look what has happened. They have taken power in Iran and Iraq and they have behaved disgracefully. Once you think that you are right, everything that you do is justified. If you convince yourself that you represent Truth, then everyone that opposes you deserves what they get. And in your zeal you get to unleash hell.

But I am baffled. I am puzzled.

How can you ignore 99% of God’s commandments in pursuit of the few easy ones? No, that’s not quite right. How can you sacrifice the vast majority of God’s commandments in pursuit of minor issues that were not of major concern? This is the greatest trick that we pull. In wanting to impose the right of clerics to rule (and who the fuck gave them that right?) we drill holes into the bones of our enemies. In wanting to impose an Islamic dress code, we destroy all freedom and independence and at times maim or sexually assault those we feel have transgressed. Let me ask you this: Are not those that assault people unjustly more worthy of punishment?

Why is it always the psychopaths and the dark minded – those that despise humanity and everything that shows personality – that take the mantle of authority in religion. This is the tragedy that plagues me.

Then where is God in all this. Some have called Him the absentee landlord or some kind of negligent father. I have realised that is unfair. What amazes me is that guidance is clear and all of us ignore it and avoid it. Even the most sincere are oblivious to it.

Why is that? It seems that human desire and ego is our greatest enemy. I want to be a good Muslim, next thing you know I come across a group of Wahabis (or fill in the sect of your choice) who tell me I have to scowl at unbelievers and hit my wife. Now I don’t really have that tendency. But they tell me that this would please God and His pleasure comes before mine. But I know inside something’s wrong. So where lies the lack of clarity? Is it the desire to fit in or is it more the need for a black and white world.

I want the universe explained for me. I don’t want to think and reflect. That must be why Salafis are so attractive. They create a world of conformity, uniformity and complete loss in the unit. One must now behave like a “pure Muslim” so he no longer dresses but in that medieval uniform, he no longer decides what he likes and dislikes for he just follows what Allah likes and dislikes and best of all he never has to think or worry again. But then I want to scream, “How do you know what Allah likes and dislikes?” Because your sheikh said so? How does he know? Go around the world and you’ll find millions sincerely telling you what Allah likes and dislikes and what He wants and you’ll suddenly discover that it is actually what they themselves like and dislike yet they do not perceive it.

We are all self deluded. We are all hiding. We are all destroyed. There is no guidance and there is no salvation…..

….. but that too can’t be true. Because I have been saved from the Wahabis and the Salafis. I only wanted to be pure and they told me how. I would have snuffed out every bit of my self and my sense of right and wrong only to be purified. You see they take advantage of those who have no sense of their worth, who believe that they should be snuffed out…. And then of course they encourage them to be snuffed out along with thirty other bystanders just to fulfil their own goals. Are they too sincere? God only knows. I hope that He does care… He must care…. Or maybe this is similar; that I too believe what I want to believe. We all desperately need at least one person on our side in the world. As too do those who commit evil.

God is more averse to throwing his creation into the fire than a loving mother would be of throwing her newborn in it. Yet, He has promised that He will fill it with our souls. I do know that mothers are not throwing their kids into ovens right and left. Or maybe they are in different ways that I do not perceive. If you think of all the dysfunctional mothers that harm and mess up their children on a continuous basis throughout the world, and then those children in turn do the same to theirs; then maybe that analogy is appropriate. Maybe if mothers were in charge we would all go to Hell, while in this case it is only the vast majority of us that will?

See here I’m playing my usual tricks. No, I’m playing the same trick I accuse all the other of. Guidance is clear. Piety, my earlier point from which I deviated probably too far, is different to all the above. It is good character and good behaviour. It is also absent from the religious community at large. We hate piety and we hate to see it because it puts a mirror up to us. We are ugly, we are frauds, and we must destroy the pious to continue to exist in our comfortable fantasy.

You know I have never met someone that didn’t believe that they were inherently good. And I have never met anyone that I thought was inherently good. What does that say? This may be a question for another day. The only exception to the above of course is the depressed, but then they’re important cannon fodder for the ideologues.

All of this is of course because I’m constantly confronted with my complete lack of piety and overwhelming self obsession. So now I have too comforted myself in highlighting that in others. I know it’s desperately cynical. But I know that when we are all tossed like garbage into the fire, that we will know that it was fair.


…yet some how I sense that we were born into a game that we could never really win and worse that we were probably never intended to win.

but alas, how can I conclude a discussion on piety without letting it define itself. So let piety define piety......

It is related that a companion of Amir al-mu'minin called Hammam [1] who was a man devoted to worship said to him, "O' Amir al-mu'minin, describe to me the pious man in such a way as though I see them." Amir al-mu'minin avoided the reply and said, "O' Hammam, fear Allah and perform good acts because 'Verily, Allah is with those who guard (themselves against evil), and those who do good (to others)'" (Qur'an, 16:128) Hammam was not satisfied with this and pushed him to speak. Thereupon, Amir al-mu'minin praised Allah and extolled Him and sought His blessings on the Holy Prophet and then spoke:Now then, Allah the Glorified, the Sublime, created (the things of) creation. He created them without any need for their obedience or being safe from their sinning, because the sin of anyone who sins does not harm Him nor does the obedience of anyone who obeys Him benefit Him. He has distributed among them their livelihood, and has assigned them their positions in the world.

Thus, the God-fearing, in it are the people of distinction. Their speech is to the point, their dress is moderate and their gait is humble. They keep their eyes closed to what Allah has made unlawful for them, and they put their ears to that knowledge which is beneficial to them. They remain in the time of trials as though they remain in comfort. If there had not been fixed periods (of life) ordained for each, their spirits would not have remained in their bodies even for the twinkling of an eye because of (their) eagerness for the reward and fear of chastisement. The greatness of the Creator is seated in their heart, and, so, everything else appears small in their eyes. Thus to them Paradise is as though they see it and are enjoying its favours. To them, Hell is also as if they see it and are suffering punishment in it.

Their hearts are grieved, they are protected against evils, their bodies are thin, their needs are scanty, and their souls are chaste. They endured (hardship) for a short while, and in consequence they secured comfort for a long time. It is a beneficial transaction that Allah made easy for them. The world aimed at them, but they did not aim at it. It captured them, but they freed themselves from it by a ransom.

During a night they are upstanding on their feet reading portions of the Qur'an and reciting it in a well-measured way, creating through it grief for themselves and seeking by it the cure for their ailments. If they come across a verse creating eagerness (for Paradise) they pursue it avidly, and their spirits turn towards it eagerly, and they feel as if it is in front of them. And when they come across a verse which contains fear (of Hell) they bend the ears of their hearts towards it, and feel as though the sound of Hell and its cries are reaching their ears. They bend themselves from their backs, prostrate themselves on their foreheads, their palms, their knees and their toes, and beseech Allah, the Sublime, for their deliverance. During the day they are enduring, learned, virtuous and God-fearing. Fear (of Allah) has made them thin like arrows. If any one looks at them he believes they are sick, although they are not sick, and he says that they have gone mad. In fact, great concern (i.e., fear) has made them mad.

They are not satisfied with their meagre good acts, and do not regard their major acts as great. They always blame themselves and are afraid of their deeds. When anyone of them is spoken of highly, he says: "I know myself better than others, and my Lord knows me better than I know. O' Allah do not deal with me according to what they say, and make me better than they think of me and forgive me (those shortcomings) which they do not know."
The peculiarity of anyone of them is that you will see that he has strength in religion, determination along with leniency, faith with conviction, eagerness in (seeking) knowledge in forbearance, moderation in riches, devotion in worship, gracefulness in starvation, endurance in hardship, desire for the lawful, pleasure in guidance and

hatred from greed. He performs virtuous deeds but still feels afraid. In the evening he is anxious to offer thanks (to Allah). In the morning his anxiety is to remember (Allah). He passes the night in fear and rises in the morning in joy - fear lest night is passed in forgetfulness, and joy over the favour and mercy received by him. If his self refuses to endure a thing which it does not like he does not grant its request towards what it likes. The coolness of his eye lies in what is to last for ever, while from the things (of this world) that will not last he keeps aloof. He transfuses knowledge with forbearance, and speech with action.

You will see his hopes simple, his shortcomings few, his heart fearing, his spirit contented, his meal small and simple, his religion safe, his desires dead and his anger suppressed. Good alone is expected from him. Evil from him is not to be feared. Even if he is found among those who forget (Allah) he is counted among those who remember (Him), but if he is among the rememberers he is not counted among the forgetful. He forgives him who is unjust to him, and he gives to him who deprives him. He behaves well with him who behaves ill with him.

Indecent speech is far from him, his utterance is lenient, his evils are non-existent his virtues are ever present, his good is ahead and mischief has turned its face (from him). He is dignified during calamities, patient in distresses, and thankful during ease. He does not commit excess over him whom he hates, and does not commit sin for the sake of him whom he loves. He admits truth before evidence is brought against him. He does not misappropriate what is placed in his custody, and does not forget what he is required to remember. He does not call others bad names, he does not cause harm to his neighbour, he does not feel happy at others misfortunes, he does not enter into wrong and does not go out of right.

If he is silent his silence does not grieve him, if he laughs he does not raise his voice, and if he is wronged he endures till Allah takes revenge on his behalf. His own self is in distress because of him, while the people are in ease from him. He puts himself in hardship for the sake of his next life, and makes people feel safe from himself. His keeping away from others is by way of asceticism and purification, and his nearness to those to whom he is near is by way of leniency and mercifulness. His keeping away is not by way of vanity or feeling of greatness, nor his nearness by way of deceit and cheating.

It is related that Hammam passed into a deep swoon and then expired. Then Amir al-mu'minin said:

Verily, by Allah I had this fear about him. Then he added: Effective advices produce such effects on receptive minds. Someone [2] said to him: O' Amir al-mu'minin, how is it you do not receive such an effect?

Amir al-mu'minin replied: Woe to you. For death there is a fixed hour which cannot be exceeded, and a cause which does not change. Now look, never repeat such talk which Satan had put on your tongue.