Why Junaid Jamshed is not the only hypocrite

The recent social media episode on Junaid Jamshed in which he is standing hand in hand with Hadika Kiyani and taking selfies with other female actors enforces a point. The point that liberals love to showcase and that is the hypocritical behavior of certain religious Muslims. Junaid Jamshed is not one person who is doing this, there are definitely many people in our families who can be seen preaching something else and doing something else. In fact it won’t be an exaggeration to say that other than the few, most of the Muslims are living the same lives.

After seriously pondering over this situation, I concluded that it is because of two reasons. First, we are Muslims and as Muslims we have certain beliefs and tend to be bound by divine Islamic laws. These laws are not just related to matters of personal worship but include moral, social, economic and political systems.  Considering this background, one can easily understand that Muslims are generally inclined in following Islamic principles.

But if you look at the society that we are living in, one can clearly see that it does not give a religiously conducive environment. For example: The Muslims believe that “interest” is Haram (unlawful) and it is a “war with Allah” as mentioned in Quran but the whole economic system is being run on capitalist principles of Interest and banking. This is a huge contradiction! Just imagine, a Muslim who believes “interest is a war with Allah” is living in a society where he cannot do anything without being part of this interest based economy. This dilemma of Muslims makes them hypocritical. On one side “the uncle” of family is telling the relative (who is in bank) that you are doing Haram and on the other side when he needs loan to build a house, takes it from the same bank. Similarly, there are Islamic principles of getting married and fulfilling your sexual instincts. However, the society does not allow getting married at an early age (the boy needs to get settled, have a car, a house  and the girl needs to study etc). On the other hand, Islam does not allow girlfriends, partying and pre-marriage relationships as these are considered among the greatest sins which are seriously punishable.  The society however allows venues for fulfilling your instincts using all un-islamic means. Keep this situation in mind and think of a kid of 18 yrs who is not allowed to marry (because he isn’t stable as per the society rules) and who is not allowed to have girlfriend at the same time (because Islam doesn’t allow this).  It is a complete contradiction of one's beliefs. This is the dilemma that our younger generation is living in.

The second reason is that we are not secular. We are not yet ready to learn from the European experience of separating religion from society and confining it to ourselves. Unlike Christianity, Islam gives detailed systems in social, economic and political matters which were demonstrated by the 1300 years rule of the Caliphate. When the Europeans were in this struggle between religion and politics, the Muslims were very much content with religion being a matter of state (Abbasid Caliphate and then Ottoman Caliphate).  Those Muslim Empires were well known superpowers and no one can deny the progress they made during these times in science, technology, literature and politics. At that time there was no contradiction between belief system and the way society was disciplined.

So what solution options do we have now to get out of this dilemma? One; either the Muslim world reject religion in the matters of state and just like Christianity and other religions, stop enforcing Islam on to the society. In this way, they will have no dilemma in taking “interest” or having “girlfriends” or problem with “blasphemy”. And the hypocrisy in words and actions will be wiped out from the society. However, I believe that the Muslims with their firm aqeeda and strong religious obligations and attachment, would not opt for this solution.

The second solution is a more radical one. To get out of this dilemma, create a society based purely on Islamic principles i.e. the one which was seen during the period of Caliphate. Caliphate created a society with an economic system free from interest and build upon zakat, a society where modesty for the women is compulsory, a society where sexual needs are fulfilled as per Islamic guidelines, a society where blasphemy laws are not misused etc. This is the only way Junaid jamshed and his alikes would not be able to attend parties with mix gatherings because there won’t be such parties. And in this way, the "uncles" cannot contradict themselves because there would be no such interest Loan option available.

The bottom line is, either we change our belief system and become secular or we change our political system and be Islamic or do nothing and remain hypocrites!