If one is to truly adhere to the principles of our religion and society, there is much to be thankful for. But surprisingly, still there are shortfalls. The birthplace of Islam should have been a haven for religious, moral and sincere ethics. Yet, when we look around in Saudi Arabia, we often see a different picture.

What we find is that a segment of our society has deviated from its Islamic ideals in its quest for selfish and earthly objectives — even at the expense of betrayal of trust, destruction of the lives of the innocent and helpless and usurping the right of the vulnerable and gullible.

Such is the greed of these self-righteous people that they would not stop to harm even their closest family members or relatives. In their twisted thinking, they believe that all they need to do to redeem themselves in the eyes of society is to commit some grand charitable act with all its pomp and glory in the name of piety, as they carry on the pretence of being God-fearing Muslims. But will they be redeemed in the judgement of the Almighty, who has warned us to be wary against such hypocrites whose impure hearts remain hidden under a facade of piety?

A case in point is the predicament of Hadeel, a schoolteacher in Jeddah who narrated the following: “My mother had been deprived of her lawful inheritance by her sister and brother-in-law. They claimed that they had been singled out for a sizeable legacy, a wasiyyat (a will) in my grandparents’ estate. After her death, the legacy dwindled even further and her offsprings received just a fraction of what was due to them from her assets, with total disregard of the laws of inheritance according to Sharia.

“So she was swindled not by an unknown outsider but by her close relatives whose greed had blinded their conscience and by denying her what was lawfully her’s, they left my mother devastated, betrayed and too ill to bear living any longer.”

What is disgusting is how these conniving people cheat others while pretending to be respectable Muslims. They robbed a poor woman and used some of the money to build mosques. And so they assumed that they would fool society by such acts of benevolence. How could they believe that they would be able to comfort their souls and conceal from Almighty Allah the devious darkness festering at the bottom of their hearts? No, they cannot, for, on Judgement Day, they will be exposed.

Contrary to their thinking, there is always something called divine justice that protects the innocent and helps them thrive. Another good thing is that our society can still distinguish between the honest and the crooked and honour the victims of hypocrisy, irrespective of their status. And most importantly, a pure heart is the most precious possession one can have. Those who have it can surely go to sleep with a clean conscience and without the burden of injustice.

Is Hadeel’s situation a unique one? Not to my knowledge. Most of us are aware of similar situations involving family members usurping the legitimate rights of their own relatives. Victimised by their own blood, and unwilling to bring their deceitful family members to shame, many had chosen to give up legal action in pursuit of their rights, while silently praying to God for redemption.

No escape

The holy Quran states: “Let those (disposing of an estate) have the same fear in their minds as they would have for their own if they had left a helpless family behind: Let them fear Allah and speak words of appropriate (comfort). Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing Fire!” Verse 2:188 says: “And eat up not one another’s property unjustly (in any illegal way, e.g. stealing, robbing, deceiving) nor give bribery to the rulers (judges before presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of the property of others sinfully.”

It has been narrated in a hadith that “Allah has given every rightful person his right, so there is no wasiyyat for him.”

And yet there are people who continue to manipulate, steal and plunder what rightfully belongs to other family members. No number of mosques built or the holy book memorised verbatim will absolve them of their wicked deeds on Judgement Day. There will be no time for repentance. There will be no escape from the wrath of the Almighty for those whose injustice bends the backs of others.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.