The world is full of educated fools, all it needs is a con art | Ilm4all
The world is full of educated fools, all it needs is a con artist to exploit them and milk them out dry
Allaah تعالى says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
{O you who believe! If a rebellious evil person comes to you with a news, verify it, lest you harm a people out of ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful over what you have done.}
[Surah al-Hujuraat (49):6]
﴿وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ﴾
{And follow not (O man i.e., say not, or do not, or witness not, etc.) that of which you have no knowledge}
[Surah al-Israa (17): 36]
Meaning: chase not something about which you have no knowledge and speak not except with knowledge (and when you are sure about it).
How many times have we read this Aayah, and how many times we have been reminded about it, yet when the time comes to implement this Aayah, we throw caution to the wind. There are people who spread the news simply based on what they have heard. Whatever they hear (or read), they spread it. About them is the Hadeeth:
On the authority of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه, the Prophet ﷺ said: ❝It is enough for a man to prove himself a liar when he goes on narrating everything that he hears.❞
[Imaam Muslim – in the introduction to his Saheeh]
in another narration it is: the Prophet ﷺ said: ❝It is sufficient a sin for a man that he speaks of everything that he hears.❞
[Sunan Abu Dawood (4992) and graded as “Saheeh” by Shaikh al-Albaanee]]
Meaning: if a person begins to narrate everything that he hears without verification and care, he will be susceptible of being labelled as a liar, and this is the reality. Some people may come to you saying: ‘such-and-such has happened’, but when you verify it, it turns out that it never happened; or they would come to you saying: ‘So-and-so has said such-and-such’, but when you verify it, it turns out that he never said such a thing.
How many times people have been exploited by these con men only because they trusted them blindly and did not verify the news. Like other communities, even Muslims have been a victim to these scams, Ponzi schemes, etc. Some of these con men exploit the greed of others by alluring them to “business/trading” with a high rate of return; and there are con men who exploit the generosity of others by pretending to be someone in need.
A few years ago, we have heard/read about the many Ponzi schemes which have robbed millions of Muslims out of their wealth, and made some of them bankrupt, or even homeless. In India, for example: one after the other, Ponzi schemes were being exposed, yet Muslims did not pay heed, and because of their greed, fell for the trap to one scheme or the other.
A few weeks ago, out of nowhere, another con artist/account jumped among our midst and pretended that “he” was a student of knowledge from the Islaamic University of Madeenah, and who got into a horrific accident and after a few days of being in the hospital he “passed” away. This con artist pretended to be a religious person and someone who had knowledge, whereas it was exposed that he/she was only plagiarizing other people’s work. Then after his alleged death, they were trying to collect money, USD 150,000 or more, for his family. People were so careless in believing in him, they never knew the person from before, they never met him or spoke to him, no one cared to verify if that person even existed or not, no one bothered to visit him in the hospital to pay a visit to the sick, yet only because of one account on social media, he became famous overnight. A person who never existed became the talk of the town, and people were praying for his well-being more than they prayed for their own parents.
This is how easy it is to play with someone’s emotions and greed. The only reason that this account got famous was because people started sharing the story without verifying the authenticity.
