CHITRAL: The way religious teachings are preached shapes how people live. When priorities get mixed up, the message itself becomes distorted -and so do the lives of those who follow it.
A popular meme captures this perfectly. A shopkeeper first waters down his milk to cheat customers. Then he sits down, drinks the leftover water, and says by sitting down while drinking water he is following the Sunnat of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The joke highlights a serious problem: treating a minor practice as important while ignoring basic honesty and character.
This kind of mixed-up preaching is common. In Pakistan, we often see great emphasis placed on small, outward matters while deeper lessons about integrity, justice, and good character are neglected. The result is a society that focuses on trivialities and overlooks what truly builds strong people and a healthy community.
Preaching that prioritizes the cosmetic over the ethical produces a culture replete in religious performance but poor in basic human values. True preaching requires recalibrating the pulpit to insist that minor practices are meaningless if the foundation of honesty and justice is rotten.. .. CN report, 26 Aug 2026
4 thoughts on “Cheap Piety: The High Cost of Easy Religion”
Besides there are Islamic honey,Islamic Dawakhana and Islamic etc. The social media education is now exposing these cheaters in the name of Islam. My all appreciation to CHITRAL NEWS for helping Muslims to understand the real Islamic thoughts as mentioned in Quran.
If preachers preach the fundamental character trait of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) i.e being truthful and trustworthy (Saadiq and Ameen) which is also the greatest Sunnat, instead of stressing on things like sitting while drinking water and/or while urinating, keeping a beard or wearing a certain type of dress or using maswak or standing in first row in mosque etc, the people will be much better off in their primary character.
We have misunderstood Islam- In Gilgit I have witnessed a big shop of honey lacated in kashrot in front of Sheen Hotel where I used to live for One year- The sign board written was “Khalis Islami Shehed “ in bold – The shopkeepers were I think 2-3 brothers with long beards and almost black appearance and were staunch Suni Muslims, very much punctual in the five time prayers in the same mosque where I used to go. But the Khalis Islami Shehed they were selling was Khalis Islami Suger or Gurh instead of shehed. The irony is that religion is used for personal gains instead of following it in it’s true spiritual meaning.
A very relatable and thought-provoking article.
I can personally relate to what this article is pointing out. Over the years, I have come across people who deliberately adopt a very religious appearance and present themselves as highly pious, but when you see their dealings with others, their honesty, behavior, and basic principles are sometimes completely different.
In my opinion, being religious is not just about how we look, what we wear, or how religious we appear in front of people. It is much more about how honestly we deal with others, how we keep our promises, how we treat people who cannot benefit us, and whether we respect the rights of others.
What hurts the most is when someone uses a religious appearance to gain people’s trust and then takes advantage of that trust. Such behavior not only harms individuals but also gives a wrong impression of religion itself.
The writer has highlighted a very real and common issue of our time. We should not judge someone’s faith simply by their appearance, but by their character and conduct. True piety should make a person more honest, humble, trustworthy and compassionate—not merely more religious-looking.
A very important article, and one that deserves serious reflection.