Preacher said: ‘Rule of 40’ is … 20 for us … 20 for you

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THERE is a story that depicts the reality of the situation in most Arab countries, and shows how the process of deceiving people takes place through an integrated system. This process starts with corrupt officials and goes through preachers who know where to target, and it does not end with opportunists whose army becomes its defender.

One day, a preacher ascended the pulpit of the mosque and started talking about patience and asceticism, avoiding extravagance, and fighting corruption. One of the cleaners interrupted him. It seems that the cleaner was following the behavior of this preacher. He said, “O preacher, you have a luxurious car and luxurious clothes of the best fabric. Your perfume wafts throughout the mosque, and your phone is of the latest model. You go to Umrah every year, and you sleep in a big house.

Will you accompany me one day to my room that is roofed with iron sheets? I want you to sleep without air conditioning, then wake up with me before dawn, and carry a broom to clean the street in this intense heat, while you are fasting. You will then know the true meaning of patience. I do this work every day, so that at the end of the month I will receive a small amount that is not equal to the value of the bottle of perfume that you buy! Sorry preacher but we do not need to learn patience, as we wake up with it everyday.

Instead, tell us about injustice and hypocrisy, about the widespread unemployment in society, and about oppressed people. Tell us about corruption and the plundering of public money and the corrupt, about the caste system, and the absence of justice in the distribution of wealth. Also talk to us about nepotism and favoritism. Otherwise, we do not need your sermon.” Indeed, this is the mouthpiece of many advisors who ask people to be patient, while they are not aware of it.

They talk about fighting corruption in a zealous manner but in reality, they are the worst of the corrupt, as they exploit every matter in order to benefit from it. They never allow any corruption opportunity to pass them. Among them are the officials who do not work according to the law, but rather spread corruption in their institutions and ministries. They are the parliamentarians who apply the popular proverb – “Eat meat as long as you got teeth” – because they deluded themselves that the world existed for them and they are the only ones who do not make mistakes.

They have hence put the wrong person in the wrong place, and ask people to cooperate with him, because he is close to them. They are the ones who practice fraud with high efficiency in order to preserve their positions and authority. That is why they explode in lying and fabricating slogans, because they are unnaturally disconnected from reality. They believe that hallucinations, delusions, and disturbances in thoughts and behavior are their monologues. A popular proverb applies to these people – “Saeed is the brother of Mubarak” – which is about a preacher in one of the villages in the Gulf region.

He was preaching to a group of poor people when he said, “Feed your preacher with chicken meat, and marry him to the most beautiful girl. You will then enter Paradise in masses.” Someone in the congregation, whose name was Mubarak, realised the preacher wasn’t sincere, as he was more knowledgeable about the religion. He harrumphed, and the preacher, whose name was Saeed, knew that his matter had been exposed. Saeed then said, “Maintain your silence, the one who harrumphed.

The rule of forty is twenty for you and twenty for us.” Mubarak remained silent and conspired in corruption with Saeed. That is why people said: “Saeed is the brother of Mubarak.” There is no doubt that ignorance is a feature of the stage. It was no coincidence that this coincided with a large number of partiallyeducated people who were planted in administrations in order to carry out the orders of the influential people who charted their course for them from the beginning in order to take over everything. They loot public money in the name of spending on projects whose poor implementation levels are eventually revealed. And if they were asked about it, they say, “The rule of forty is twenty for you and twenty for us.” This is why the plunderers share the wealth of countries.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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