Faith Beyond Rituals: A Lesson from a Rs10,000 Bank Incident

..  by Zahirullah

The work of the Tablighi Jamaat is certainly good. It strongly emphasizes prayer, remembrance of Allah, and other religious practices. A person who spends time in Tablighi work usually becomes regular in these matters. They are also generally peaceful and harmless people.

However, it is also a fact that, apart from worship and religious rituals, the Tablighi movement pays relatively little attention to practising Islam in everyday life and developing moral values. There is very little guidance about what is halal and what is haram.

Whenever the Tablighi Jamaat is mentioned, I remember an incident from the National Bank of Chitral. In this context, I think it is worth sharing.

A man from Khot in Torkhow (upper Chitral) once received Rs10,000 from abroad into his bank account. At that time, money sent from abroad was not transferred directly into accounts. It first came through the bank’s head office and was then entered into the relevant branch accounts.

During this process, one of our officers accidentally deposited the Rs10,000 into the account of another man who belonged to Chitral proper.

A few days later, a complaint came from abroad that the Rs10,000 had not reached the intended account. An investigation showed that the money had mistakenly been deposited into someone else’s account, and that person had already withdrawn it.

When we looked into the background of the account holder, we found that he came from a respectable family and was considered a religious and good person. He had retired from his job and had gone out for four months of Tablighi work. He was expected to return after about a month.

We asked the man from Khot to be patient for a month. We told him that as soon as the other man returned from Tablighi work, we would recover the money and deposit it into his account.

Eventually, the man returned from Tablighi work. We had great difficulty persuading him to come to the bank. When he arrived, we offered him tea and then explained the matter.

We told him that, due to a banking error, Rs10,000 belonging to a poor working man had been deposited into his account and that he had withdrawn the money. We showed him his bank statement and asked him to give us a cheque for Rs10,000. We would then recover the amount from his pension when it was credited to his account and return it to the rightful owner.

His response was surprising: “What is my fault? You deposited the money into my account. Why should I pay it back?”

We explained that the mistake in entering the money into his account was certainly ours, and we accepted responsibility for that. But after the money was wrongly deposited, he had withdrawn it and spent it, even though it did not belong to him.

He remained adamant. He kept saying, “Why was the money deposited into my account? Once it was there, I withdrew it and spent it. Why should I return it?”

We were shocked. Still, I asked the staff to leave the room and tried to explain the matter to him privately.

I said, “You have only recently returned from four months of Tablighi work. This money belongs to someone else. Taking and keeping it is haram. Please do not do this. The man who sent this money and the bank officer who mistakenly deposited it into your account both belong to the Ismaili community, whom you may not even consider Muslims. But ask yourself: can a person who has just spent four months in Tabligh do what you are doing?”

I continued, “Why are you embarrassing yourself over Rs10,000? We will pay this amount from our own pockets if necessary. But if you keep and eat this haram money, how will you stand before Allah in prayer?”

His answer remained the same: “Why was it deposited into my account? What is my fault? Why should I pay?”

He was a reasonably well-educated man and understood everything we were saying. Yet he still refused to return the money.

In the end, we had no choice but to pay the Rs10,000 from our own pockets and deposit it into the account of the poor man from Khot.

The man in question is still active in Tablighi work, with his long beard and turban.

May Allah give all of us the understanding to truly understand and practise our religion. .. 22 Sep 2026
(The writer is a former SVP of the National Bank of Pakistan)