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Everyone Stealing From Just About Everyone By Maulana Khalid Dhorat Morality, religion and values have not only flown out of the window, but it seems that the ceiling has cracked wide open and all traces of shame, decency and Allah-consciousness has simply evaporated into thin air. We are indeed witnessing the time wherein Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) predicted that trustworthy people will be so rare that they will be counted on one’s fingers. The level of theft, fraud and dishonesty has reached such epidemic proportions that seemingly everyone is busy stealing from anyone, even from their own kind. It’s already nearing the end of February, but every second businessman is moaning that he cannot supply stock because people who took goods in November last didn’t pay yet, yet they enjoyed a luxurious 5 star holiday in Dubai. If retrenchment is a disappointment, crippling a struggling honest businessman is a double disaster because not only his independence is lost, but his progress and productivity in the economy too. But who cares anyway!! In fact, there are so many thieves nowadays and so little victims left that the thieves are beginning to eat each other up! Let’s see just how commonplace stealing has become: 1) Municipalities are stealing from consumers by over billing, and consumers are doing likewise by means of illegal connections. 2) Governments are stealing from its citizens by means of unjust taxation, and the citizenry is doing likewise by means of tax evasion and fraudulent returns. 3) Employers routinely steal from their employees by means of unlawful deductions and paltry wages, and employees do the same by stealing time, through petty theft and unfaithfulness. 4) Car dealers turn back the odometer and give bribes to car dealerships for providing them with trade-ins, and consumers hide crucial faults in a vehicle when putting them up for sale. 5) Manufacturers decrease the weight of items and reduce their quality and still demand the same price, and retailers never pass on the benefit of cost-cutting measures to the consumer. 6) Zakaat and charitable institutions defraud their donors by using a great percentage of the money for personal needs, and givers cheat Allah by giving less, or by giving dubiously earned money. 7) Contractors steal from their contracting companies by submitting ghost invoices, and parent companies often dishonour their contracts, don’t pay at all, or pay way less than originally agreed. 8) Landlords often charge exorbitant rentals, and do not repair their properties for their tenant’s comfort, but tenants too illegally sublet, destroy the property, evacuate without notice and dodge their rental payments. 9) Auditors, accountants and lawyers routinely lie and burn the evidence in order to keep dishonest clients on their books, and clients use their status and crooked earnings to patronise them and continue in their fraud. 10) Mechanics, carpenters, plumbers and electricians always find unnecessary items to repair and steal new parts, whilst clients nearly always never pay them their due or delay them for years on end. 11) Medical aids regularly increase their premiums, and clients abuse the fund by purchasing cosmetics or for trivial medical conditions like a knee scrape or a gassy stomach. 12) Doctors conduct dozens of unnecessary tests and run up a bill of thousands before telling the patient they can’t find the cause of his sickness, and clients often do not settle their bills and are handed over to collection agencies. 13) Transport and logistic companies often overburden their drivers with many stops, and delivery vehicles often offload extra stock at discounted prices during the night. 14) One of the more shocking examples of dishonesty is heirs depriving their own siblings of their legitimate share, and the deceased who also treated his family unfairly by favouring one over the other. 15) Banks, financial institutions, investment schemes, and retirement funds seems to be taking the lead in mishandling and losing the funds in their care, leaving many saddened hopefuls who thought they could retire in peace and who also couldn’t guarantee their funds was 100% legitimate. 16) Then you have religious fraud by people who claim there are 200 zakaatable students in their Madrassah, whereas there is only five, but it suits the donor fine as he can launder his undeclared wealth via their books. 17) Building contractors always mislead their clients on pricing and building material quality, and their clients always give them ridiculous deadlines and penalty clauses. 18) By far, the favourite Muslim scams happen at the time of Hajj and Qurbani, but clients also look for impossible deals due to selfishness. There is hardly any facet in our life that is not riddled with corruption, and many more examples can thus be cited. But many cases of theft are one-sided too. You have online shopping scams with no fault of the customer at all, small industries, home industries, and catering firms who are not paid for months because they cannot afford the legal route. O Ummah, have we forgotten that Allah Ta’ala is Well Aware of whatever we do. None can escape His Grasp. One day we will be made to stand, trembling and perspiring, before Allah, and we will repay our debts in a ghastly fashion. Flesh nourished with ill-gotten wealth is not fit for paradise, so you will pay with burning flesh, anguished tears, oozing wounds. This is a friendly timeous warning; if you are reading this message and you have dues on your head, repent immediately and settle your dues. MAY ALLAH TA’ALA GRANT US ALL THE ABILITY TO REPENT, SETTLE OUR AFFAIRS, AND MEET ALLAH WITH A CLEAN SLATE ON THE DAY OF QIYAAMAH. AMEEN. Jamiatul Ulama (KZN) Council of Muslim Theologians