One of the biggest problems facing the entire world is corruption. It’s why the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. It’s why a country could be full of natural resources, and the government can be rich, but still most of the people are suffering from poverty, starvation and diseases. It’s how countries can go so far as to kill innocent civilians just to gain a little more wealth.
The rich line their pockets and leave the poor to suffer. Taking the people’s money which should go to services they need, and instead giving it to a few rich companies, with the excuse that it’ll help the poor. There are thousands of charities that literally take donation money and purposefully only spending a small percentage of it on those in need. There’s one company in particular that claims to help children with Cancer, but only spends 3% of it’s donations on helping children with cancer. The rest they keep for themselves. How evil and corrupt is this?
OK, but that’s other people. What about ourselves? We’re not accepting donations. We’re not stealing from the poor. Can we still be corrupt? Yes. Corruption comes from cheating. Taking what is not yours, through deceptions or lies.
In a survey of 24,000 students at 70 high schools, it was found that 64 percent of students admitted to cheating on a test, 58 percent admitted to plagiarism and 95 percent said they participated in some form of cheating, whether it was on a test, plagiarism or copying homework. This problem of corruption starts very early on. How can we solve the problem of corrupt nations, and corrupt companies, which plagues the entire world causing suffering everywhere, when it starts at such a basic level. Cheating at school. Those people who become leaders of companies and countries, first had to be students. Rather than learning how to be proper human beings, what they learned was how not to get caught.
Maybe you’re not convinced. Maybe you think cheating isn’t such a big deal, even after I showed logically the evil that results from it. So lets see what our Prophet PBUH said about cheating.
The Prophet PBUH was walking by a seller selling grains. The Prophet PBUH put his hand into the grain and found it wet under the dry grain at the top. He asked the seller why it was wet. The seller said there was rain which caused it to become wet. The Prophet asked him, “Why didn’t you place the wet portion over the dry portion so that people would see it.
من غشنا فليس منا”
“He who deceives is not of us.”
How scary is that? That should be enough for us. Whoever cheats is not among us. This can be compared to another hadeeth where the Prophet PBUH said:
“Three are the signs of a hypocrite: When he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is trusted, he betrays his trust.”
These three signs or qualities are all essentially cheating. So if you cheat you may not be Muslim, even if you pray, fast and claim to be Muslim. We really need to take this matter seriously and try our best not to fall into it. And for those of us who have, we should make sincere repentance to Allah and intend to never do it again.
Why do people cheat? Why are nations so corrupt? The main reason is no fear of accountability. No fear that anybody is watching them, that anyone is recording them, and that they will be judged for what they did. Another reason is the feeling that everybody is doing it, which somehow makes it OK. But that shouldn’t give anyone comfort, because Allah has destroyed whole nations and people for what they were doing. You’re not safe because more people are doing it. You’re just joining those that will be punished.
As Muslims we understand that Allah is watching us, and his angels are watching and recording us. We cannot escape from anything we do, except by sincerely repenting. So knowing this, a true Muslim would never cheat. Thus:
من غشنا فليس منا”
“He who deceives is not of us.”
And Allah says in the Quran:
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ ﴿٧﴾ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ ﴿٨﴾
So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, (7) And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it. (8) [99:7-8]
We can hide our sins from our teachers, our parents, and the rest of mankind, but we can never hide our sins from Allah. And ultimately there is no benefit from cheating. We might cheat in order to please our parents, but would they be pleased if they knew we got an “A” because we cheated? For sure they wouldn’t. It is reported that the Prophet PBUH said: “Whoever seeks to please people by displeasing Allah, Allah will be displeased with him and cause people to be displeased with him.” (Narrated by ibn Hibaan. Classed as Saheeh by Sheikh Al-Bani.)
So who is better to please? Our parents or Allah? May Allah increase our eemaan, so that we don’t trade our next life for a small pleasure in this life. And may Allah accept our repentance if we have cheated in the past.
If you loved this post then you’ll love my books! Check out my books for Muslim children! Jazaka Allahu khayran!