Hypocrisy

Hypocrites exist amongst us and they are particularly annoying to me.  On several occasions I have been subjected to hypocrisy in the least unlikely situations.  You see, my children spent the early years of their education in a private Christian School.  This is an environment where one would not expect anything but the best in educators and people.  Unfortunately, for me this was not the case.

This particular school was housed in a building which was owned by a church.  Many of the students were of families who were members of the controlling church.  We were among some of the families who worshiped elsewhere or did not worship at all.  This small minority of kids was discriminated against by administrators and some of the teachers at the school.

Discriminations were shown in subtle ways.  If any of these children were to get into trouble, or question the word of God or the Bible, they would be dealt a more severe punishment.  Detention with a side of humiliation was one such punishment. It was my opinion that the school employees sought to control these children while they were in school because they had no control of their worship habits.

Another form of discrimination came from the adults who worshiped at the church.  They would discriminate against their own members if they thought they were not dressed well enough.  I actually overheard conversations on an occasion when I attended worship on a Sunday as a guest.  Nice church-going folks were putting down other people because their clothing was not good enough. 

So I was not at all surprised to find hypocrisy in Salman Rushdie’s short story, The Prophet’s Hair.  We see a father become a hypocrite after having gained possession of a religious relic.

Hashim, a wealthy moneylender, finds a vial which is said to contain the hair of the Prophet Muhammad.  The relic belongs in the Hazratbal Mosque.  It had been stolen the night before, and he finds it floating in the quay. 

He should have returned the vial to its shrine at Mosque.  However, this is not his intention.  He convinces himself that the “Prophet would disapprove mightily of this relic worship” (44) and decides to keep it for himself.  He locks it away and tells only his son about it.

Once his decision is made, his family sees a change in his behavior.  He is suddenly bursting with “an end to politeness, an end to hypocrisy” (45), forcing strict adherence to Muslim law.  He tells his wife of his many women, he berates his son for ignorance and rebukes his daughter for lascivious behavior.  Each morning he wakes them at five to wash and pray.  They continue to pray fives times each day.  He has the servants burn all of his books leaving only the Qur’an from which each member of his family is forced to read for two hours each day.    

So while everyone in his family is forced into strict Muslim behavior, he is left to do what he pleases.  When his family tries to reason with him, they are only met with violence.  His behavior towards his customers becomes more violent. 

 Having the religious relic only serves as a detriment to Hashim and his family.  They are met with death and destruction.  One has to think that he would have enjoyed a much happier ending had he returned the Prophet’s hair to its rightful place.

Religious hypocrisy is dangerous.  People should not force their will onto others, especially those who fail to practice what they preach.  Being a hypocrite will only push others away from you.

Needless to say, after four years we removed our daughters from that hypocritical environment and we have had very few incidents of detention.  Heck we haven't had any trouble.