For decades, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been witnesses to a recurring phenomenon, the emergence of fraudster saints who exploit religious sentiments for their own gain. It is not external forces, nor foreign conspiracies, that have led to the degradation of religious integrity in Jammu and Kashmir. It is we, the people, who have willfully provided legitimacy and reverence to fraudulent saints, individuals who have neither knowledge nor piety but thrive on the blind faith of an ill-informed populace. These self-proclaimed spiritual guides exploit the ignorance of the masses, feeding off their desperation and lack of religious understanding.
The Mockery of Faith: The most recent abomination in Waripora Kunzer is a glaring testament to this crisis. A mentally unsound man, Razaq Bab, has dared to call himself the pious saint of Kashmir. But the horror does not end there—this blasphemous imposter has constructed a replica of the Holy Kaaba, the most sacred site of Islam, falsely claiming that people can perform Hajj and Umrah there.
The unspeakable irony is that a segment of Kashmiri society accepts this deceit and continues to visit this charlatan, revering him as a spiritual leader. This man, who cannot even recite a single verse of the Holy Quran, has managed to gather a following of gullible individuals who seek his so-called blessings, reinforcing the cycle of religious exploitation. But who is truly at fault here? Is it the fraudster, or is it the people who elevate him to sainthood?
Irony of Muslim Complicity: One of the most shocking aspects of this sacrilegious episode is that the replica of the Kaaba was constructed by Muslim carpenters. Have we, as an Ummah, fallen so low that we are now complicit in our own religious degradation? Have we strayed so far from the path of Islamic enlightenment that we fail to distinguish between divine truth and absolute falsehood?
Let this be clear: Islam is not a religion of blind faith—it is a faith of knowledge, intellect, and divine guidance. The Holy Quran and Sunnah explicitly warn against such imposters, yet we continue to endorse and empower them.
“As Muslims, our allegiance is to Allah alone—not to self-proclaimed saints, not to spiritual imposters, and certainly not to the delusional false prophets who claim divinity in any form.”
A Society Infested with Charlatans: The Waripora Kunzer incident is not an exception; it is a symptom of a larger disease that has plagued Kashmir for decades. If we were to delve deeper, we would uncover countless such fraudsters masquerading as saints across the region. These men exploit the vulnerable, manipulate the uneducated, and thrive on the desperation of those seeking spiritual solace. But why do such fraudsters continue to exist? The answer is painfully simple: because we allow them to.
The Crisis Of Religious Ignorance: If Kashmiri Muslims were truly grounded in Islamic scholarship, these frauds would not survive a single day. However, the harsh reality is that millions of Muslims in Kashmir today cannot even recite the full Kalima correctly. Our detachment from religious education has made us easy prey for deception. This spiritual and intellectual decay is a direct consequence of our blind pursuit of Westernization. We have strayed from the path of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), forgotten his Sunnah, and disregarded the commandments of Allah as revealed in the Holy Quran. If Islamic teachings were firmly embedded in our homes, these fraudsters would hold no significance in our lives. But because we lack true religious knowledge, these deceivers continue to thrive, polluting our faith and misleading generations.
The Only Path to Salvation, A Return to True Islam: The solution to this epidemic of religious fraud is not outrage alone—it is education. If we wish to eradicate these charlatans, we must fortify ourselves with Islamic knowledge and revive the true teachings of the Quran and Hadith. As Muslims, our allegiance is to Allah alone—not to self-proclaimed saints, not to spiritual imposters, and certainly not to the delusional false prophets who claim divinity in any form.
Let us reaffirm our faith: There is no God but Allah, and no one is above Him. This is not just a verse—it is the foundation of Islam, and it is time we start living by it. Until we take these steps, the rise of fraudulent saints will continue to plague our society, leading us further away from the truth. The choice is ours-either we remain victims of deception or reclaim our faith through knowledge.
(The author a Lawyer by Profession is a freelancer. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
