Over the years I have lost many religious friends and acquaintances who either became non practicing or went completely haywire.
Following are the common traits for self check first and foremost:
Speaking on matters of deen despite being laity. A well read layman is still a layman.
Learning deen through internet debates, polemical discourse between people of various orientations and then taking positions after doing ‘unbiased’ analysis.
Forcefully associating yourself to certain scholars and then propagating your ‘own understanding’ of their statements. This problem is further exacerbated when your understanding is based on few short clips, articles, books of the said scholars, instead of going through a good deal of their corpus.
Being too much emotionally invested in certain scholars, movements or figures your like.
Not having a real mentor in life and instead associating yourself with scholars who don’t even live in your country. Practically there is no one who you would turn to or sit with on a regular basis in-person physically for mentorship.
When seemingly religious person starts to curse or swear in his social media posts or in real life conversations.
Time spent with Quran <Time spent on favorite religious discussions.
Time spent in Salah < Time spent in online activites
Time spent in on the ground Islamic work < Time spent in online activites
Taalum, Tasadur, Kibar
May Allah guide us all.
▪️Abdullah Khan
