A Culture Governed By Hypocrisy(?)

I was talking with some friends over some snacks a week ago and we happened to talk about a statement posted by a facebook friend.



"Our culture is governed by HYPOCRISY". Take note, the poster is pure-blooded.



Hmmm. What about it?



For one thing, we couldn't help agreeing, sadly.



The rest of that afternoon was spent trying to mesh out what she meant. And we enumerate lots of things.



A lot of us would profess faith in Islam, and ostensibly follow the 5 pillars but outside that, their attitudes aren't that Islamic. I've seen middle aged and old ladies attending Islamic lectures given by "learned" men who abuse their being uneducated and therefore give them twisted views on Islam.



Religious men bash other faiths from the pulpits.



A lot of us would say it isn't in the money but look how people here go loyal to a person over a bundle of bills or ignore a person due to lack of wealth.




Many women would criticize the way other faiths dress revealingly but hey, you see them on the streets wearing headscarves (pinned!) but with skinny jeans or worse, leggings as bottoms!




Many young men don't see anything wrong with having girlfriends from other faiths, leaving them when the girls got pregnant by them.




Many parents here push underaged children to marriage to serve their selfish financial, political or personal interests. This results often to frustrated adults.




Many parents here also spoil their sons so much that these young men don't see he point in getting an education and a job. They end up getting married to employed girls (teachers like me are common prey) and still expect to be treated like kings when they stay unemployed.




A lot of infrastructure projects that could've been financed with local money (even something as simple as a 5 meter street!) are financed by USAID, GEM, and God knows who else. And oh by the way, that means many people here criticize the First World for taking advantage of us, and yet, we thrive on their money. We have learned to shame ourselves by begging for what we could do by ourselves!




There's many more, but it's just too much. A final and worst point I'd like to give as a parting shot is that, when these problems are exposed, many of us go on the defensive,ignoring the fact that by doing so, we perpetuate something that is destroying us as Muslims and as a nation.