CHITRAL: Mosques in Chitral and elsewhere have ablution places where a string of taps are attached to a thick pipe to serve water. Recently there are reports that these taps have been dismantled and taken away by thieves in the dark of the night. Although this act in itself seems to be an act of petty theft (‘gunah e saghira’) on the face of it, but deep inside it is a big story of moral decay of the society.
Similarly some 15 years back, new shoes of this writer were found missing after coming out of Friday prayers at the mosque. I walked barefoot to my house about 200 meters away.
In the evening called the Imam of the mosque to my house. His first expression on seeing me was a big smile. He quickly said “You can afford new shoes, it was the rizq ( provision) of the person (thief)”. I promptly admonished him and said it was an occasion for him to cry instead of smiling. I said your prayer leadership is useless if you yourself cannot admonish a thief, and that too at a mosque.
The fact of the situation now about the tap thiefs case in police is that there are two aspects to it:
1. The law enforcing agency i.e the police should guard the taps
2. It should be worriedly pondered as to how the thieves morally dared to steal taps from a mosque.
Whereas the law enforcement point is rudimentary and nothing much can be done about it, the fact the persons stealing taps from the house of God and don’t care about Gods retribution is the real worrisome issue -This is actually the heart wrenching issue here. It must be addressed with all seriousness- Preachers must preach that there is no let off for stealing shoes or taps from mosques as at anywhere else. if not done, the carpets, clocks and other items will disappear from the mosques regularly”.
The real theft is not only of mosque property. It is actually the theft of our moral values .. CN report, 03 Sep 2026
2 thoughts on “Stealing From Mosques in Chitral: A Proof of Moral Decay”
The DPO lower Chitral informed Chitral News that The culprits in the mosque taps case have been arrested and recoveries are being made. She vowed to check this menace from spreading in Chitral.
Good the police has arrested the culprits, but due to weak laws, the criminals would go free soon, as has been practice in past. More than the state police, it is the responsibilty of the moral police i.e the religious preachers to preach honesty and make it clear to all that dishonesty cannot be pardoned by prayers, rituals, pilgrimages etc.