I am not sure how long will it be before we change the name to "Republic Of Pakistan" without “Islamic” just to be considered modern and progressive in the west. Before you read ahead I just want to make this clear that I am not making myself out to be a pious individual or an alim or a mufti, I am probably worst than most of you. As the days go by it is becoming more and more clear that we are living today with a guilt of being Muslim and feel ashamed of Islam, we feel so insecure that we are willing to leave behind our religious identity just to get accepted by the west, if someone calls for modesty in fashion he/she is labeled anti-progress, anti-feminine, anti-freedom or one of today’s favorites Fundamentalist, Extremist or Islamist. The other big excuse we hear is “We want to show how modern Pakistan is”. We are being told that it is freedom of expression and show of modernization. What is freedom? Is freedom only judged by the size of the skirt? Is Modernization measured by the number of girl friends/boy friends you have had?

I moved to the US when I was 15 and last month turned 27, even thou I have been living so far away and for so long, but today I feel disturbed and bothered by the trend I see back home. I see values I was proud of slowly but surely being eroded away in the name of progress. In the presence of issues like poverty, growing class gap, lack of security, corruption, high unemployment, lack of healthcare, poor state of our education system and countless other issues many in our nation are more worried about "how to revitalize" our film and fashion industry, how to make shedding cloths a symbol of freedom rather than indecency. People say that it is the right of a man/woman to choose what he/she wants to wear, yes they do they have every right, but they need to keep the indecency behind closed doors, it is after all an "Islamic" county, last I looked there are certain guidelines for both men and women, a certain dress code that is considered Islamic that is neither chosen by Men or Women, it is the will of Allah and I know some people will start debating if it is covering oneself in a "burqa" or "headscarf", but I am not debating that. I am only talking about how the Pakistani media has been hell bent on promoting western values and culture, cloths that use to be worn in private are being shown on television as if they are on an Indian channel and things like casual dating are being made in to the social norms. Pakistan is an Islamic Republic and that said our media, culture, moral and ethical values should not only be based on the teaching of Islam and I can not see how any Muslim can argue that it is ok to promote or tolerate people who promote practices that are against the teaching of Islam in the name of progress and freedom.

            Today with the increase of western pressure on Muslims to adopt more of the western ideals and the explosion of electronic media which is also leaning toward adopting and promoting western culture, time is fast approaching before we are fully engulfed in a media that will not care for things like modesty or indecency and once that happens we will not be able to turn back the clock. Now is the time where we have to make a decision as a nation and as a people who believe in the word of God and the teaching of his messenger to either stay silent and let the flood gates open for a culture of sex, nudity and no regard for Islam. Some people will say that it will never happen in Pakistan, but fashion shows, dramas, music videos have already began to introduce subtle concepts that are evident and will slowly grow in there boldness once the masses begin to accept and desire more. You might think that is still too far fetched but look at the spread of corruption, it was not like this when we got our independence but slowly it grew and now has become the worst cancer in our society. Today we have too extremes, on one side there are people who are eager to bring the culture of indecency in the name of moderation, art and personal freedom. On the other side there are people who would ban and put complete restrictions on women. But majority of the people like you and me do not want either one. Both sides are driven by people with the lack of Islamic understanding. We need to bring awareness to our people specially the young generation, and that we need to resist the calls from people within and from the west to adopt there values and culture. We would rather chose something in the middle which allow both men and women to keep there dignity and give women a better position.

People say that religion is a matter of personal choice and again they are right but when you choose to follow one religion we can not change the boundaries set forth by that religion just because it does not fit your style or it interferes with your desires. It is there choice to practice or not practice Islam but for them to justify, portray and pass of there behavior as Islamic is ridiculous and is also ridiculous for them to ask us to tolerate there spread of such ideals and behavior. If guidelines of Islam are not what Allah had set forth but are instead up for individuals to then why pretend to follow Islam. We should than also be asked to tolerate going to the prayers in bikinis (male or female) or consider sanctioning pre-marital sex an accepted activity in a Muslim society? We will be told this is not about Islam, sexual freedom is about being progressive and about individual freedom but the issue is not what people decide to do in private that is between them and Allah but as an "Islamic Society" we should not allow Pakistani media to encourage or portray such behaviors. Isn't it enough that we already have external pressures coming from the west and more closely from India. Instead of countering such cultural trend our media should glorify and encourage Muslims to watch there limits. To my generation and the next I want to say that yes, right now it is very tempting and alluring to get involved in such behaviors (God knows how hard it is to keep myself away from such things) but this what the whole concept of fighting your temptation is and if we allow our temptations to become mainstream we will go far of the path of Allah and may be so far that we won’t be able to return. We are young today but tomorrow we will get old and die but what kind of a world will we be leaving behind for our kids. Today from time to time we might go off course, which is understandable because we are human and to err is human but because we are part of a culture that nurtures the values of Islam we are able to turn back but if this culture and identity is lost than the coming generations won’t be able to find there way back.

I am sure lot of people will come back arguing saying that if an Islamic nations have the  right to ban non-Islamic practices than secular countries like France have the right to ban "Hijab" in public schools and that it is hypocrisy in part Muslims to protest against it. To explain this you will first need to look at the background of this law and than you might understand the reason for the protest. Instead of me going over the whole history about France and this law that is now also known as the "headscarf law" targeted specially toward Muslim girls (in my opinion which you don't have to agree with if you want), I found the history and information on wikipedia quite neutral and unbiased "French Law" People who sing the praises of secularism might see that secular societies also act in the same way when there values are challenged. When they won’t allow our values to become the mainstream of there societies? Why should we be so careless about giving up our values and identity? People who judge Islamic customs and boundaries as backward and out of date come to this conclusion by looking at Islam from a western perspective. Have you ever thought that if the west is so liberal and tolerates others than why is it that there is always a debate about women who where a scarf, veil and Muslims not drinking, eating pork or adultery. We are told that our societies puts pressures on women to cover them selves and Yes it does, but how is it different from social pressures in the west for women to dress and look a certain way. The idea of freedom for other cultures in the west is that they should come but than assimilate them selves in to there culture. Tell me how is that valuing individuality of other cultures, just because there are millions of Muslims as minorities they don’t change there values and make Islamic values the norm, and obviously Muslims are expected to follow and live in there society by respecting there norms. Similarly instead of feeling sorry for our selves we need to accept that our cultures are different and be proud of our values and customs. We need to let them know that we don’t need to be assimilated, we have our own identity and people who come here and live here have to respect and abide by the social norms of our societies just like we have to when going to the west.

There are elites and social organizations in our country who have been peddling there own agendas under the veil of women's rights. We as an Islamic Nation need to ask ourselves some simple questions, why the so called intellectuals are trying to promote westernization, Islamically objectionable cloths and ideas about premarital sex? Does this help the cause of women's right? How does promoting these things help rape victims get justice? How does this help stop harassment on buses? How does this help control corruption? Does this transform our education system? How does this help bring people up from poverty? How does it stop the exploitation of young men by politicians for there personal gains? Most of us of are thinking that we already know about all this and there is nothing we can do about it. Some of you might be thinking "who are you to say anything about this, while you are sitting in the west". Granted that I am not there, but I am a Muslim and a Pakistani who has not forgotten his roots and values our heritage. So I have as much right to challenge anyone trying to cut down our roots and may be I am in a much better position to see what the negatives are that come with westernization. We need to get serious about protecting our identity, we need to understand the causes behind it and lastly but most importantly we need to have the courage to do something about it. We have to decide if we want to be a nation that believes in Islam or do we just want to be called Muslims without following the Quran?

            I am not sure if these organizations and media are just driven by corporate greed, looking to create another market for products by changing the moral perceptions and creating a social environment similar to that of the West or is it just there selfish desires and interests. But we as a nation can not blame the few elites or outside forces for exporting this to us. The first step of solving these issues is the realization that it's not the west or elites that are to be blamed; but instead it is "the average Pakistani", in other word we are the biggest culprit. We got our independence more than fifty years ago but we have never been able to free our minds from the slave mentality of colonialism. We did get the independence in the name of Islam but ever since rather than looking to The Quran, Prophet's example or the time of  first 4 Caliph's for guidance and as a socio-economic model we have been measuring our success, our way of life, decisions, laws and social norms with that of our colonial masters and there values. It's quite evident how deeply rooted our insecurities are just by looking at how greatly we accept any thing western,  we look at models, celebrities with an admiration and are driven with awe for anyone who is dressed in a attire that shows more than it covers. We admire the success, economic success, health care system and laws in the west but the only things we are willing to adopt from them are the things that clash with Islam. We are so low on self-esteem that we can not see that we can also attain the same level of success while following Islam. We have to reject the image where a girl wearing a mini skirt is considered a sign of freedom and a girl wearing a scarf is a symbol of oppression or a guy in a jeans is more liberal and not sexist where as a guy with a beard is sexist and oppressive. If becoming liberal (the term itself is mostly defined from a western perspective) or secular was the answer to our problems than why is it that places like Russia, Mexico, most of South America and Eastern European nations have not been able to replicate the same level off success. If we look at number of failed states (a term again only defined by western standards) almost all of them are former colonies. For sisters who are thinking that I am talking about these things because this will give women of Pakistan freedom, but ask yourself if sacrificing Islam is the only way to achieve better conditions for the women of Pakistan. I can probably quote studies, researches and numbers on women’s issues in America or Europe but I am sure you can go look for yourself the kind of problems women face while living in a liberal or secular society,

            We need to start feeling secure about our religion and to do that we need to get a better understanding of Islam and not just keep following the daily rituals like machines but look deeper into the meaning of  being a Muslim and what it is a Islamic society. We have also been sucked in to believing this negative portrayal of Islamic society because we are told that we should be fearful and the first things that come to our mind are the Hudod Ordinance, Iranian revolution, Saudi Arabia or more recently Taliban and how oppressive they have been toward its people or at least that's what we have been told to believe. The only way to get over this fear is to understand and learn the beauty and the equality in our religion rather than being told what our religion is about from the west or the west inspired intellectuals. Quite Issue of Hudod Ordinance has become a huge thing again and everyone in the media has taken up the cause of the injustices caused by Hudod Ordinance. No one can deny the fact there have been and still issues with regards to the implementation and enforcement of these laws and that women have been targeted unjustly under the banner of sharia law. But we need to distinguish between people who have used and use Islam to cause harm to people and the true nature of Islam. We should work to correctly and justly implement Islamic laws and not fall into the trap of people who are using these issues to exploit and farther there own agendas of westernization. We have all seen programs where one hand they talk about Hudod Ordinance and pretend to really care about Islam and on the other hand say things like "We are happy to see that our fashion and entertainment industry is maturing and that we can now promote the western styles and fashion". But even that is not enough they want more I heard a designer in an interview after a show in India and you could hear the disappointment is his voice when he said that "Unlike India we still can't do a lot of skin exposure but we will see how the perception changes in the future" and I am sure most of you heard an actress talk about how her kissing an Indian (like that matters) actor was like "giving a kiss from Pakistan to India" without any sense of guilt in her action and feeling that it was against Islam.  It used to be that we blamed the western media for exporting there culture to us but now with the explosion of TV outlets we can no longer keep blaming outsiders. Big networks like GEO, ARY, INDUS say in there mission statement that there goal is to give a voice to average Pakistani and showcase the cultural values of its people, but so far all they have been doing is promoting western ideals of liberalization and changing the way we view indecency. Instead of coming up with there own identity and promoting modesty they have been pathetically idealizing/copying the Indian industry which has been westernized to the point that it is hard to tell the difference between them and the west. Our media elites have also cleverly adopted similar catch phrases like "Glamour", "Progressive" and "Sizzle" to promote things that are considered  indecent and un-Islamic and make them more appealing and acceptable. Anyone saying something against it is labeled a extremist, backward or against progress and than there is "Enlightenment of  Islam", a cute little term to used by them while freeing ourselves from any guilt of sacrificing Islamic values in the name of progress and modernization.

Even thou most of us see these things occurring, we are either willingly or unwillingly helping these attitude become the norms and acceptable. At one hand we feel so passionately about our religion and prophet that we destroy our cities and harm innocent people for drawing a cartoon of our Prophet half way around the globe and on the other hand celebrate things like "Valentines Day" with such enthusiasm that even a westerner would be surprised and might mistakenly think that instead of a western custom it was ours. We have just been giving lip service to Islam and showing hollow love for the prophet and Quran, where is the outrage for desecration of Quran not by non-Muslims but by us for showing no respect to the teaching of Quran and selectively ignoring the guidelines set for us. We say that Islam is a complete religion and how beautiful the teachings are but we are not willing to show or even try to show it through our action. We can make all the excuses as we want, blame as many people as we want but we all know we are the once who are responsible, you and me included. We the average Pakistani kept quite and ignored while the corruption started to spread slowly and today we are at a state that we don't see a way around it and accept it as if it was a part of our religion. Every where we turn we see how it has penetrated the society. From our leaders to police, from businessmen to consumers, from teachers to student, from employer to employee, we have all become so morally weak that we don't want to do anything to stop it or may be we don't realize that how these small changes will one day become an accepted part of our society just like the way corruption has become.

Just like today's generation blames the corruption on the last, tomorrow's generation will blame us for our inaction and silence. There is only one way out from the situation that we are in. We need to find the courage and do the right thing, learn to control our desires and wants, accept the limits that have been imposed on us by Allah, learn and understand our religion rather than just going about performing our daily rituals and see that Islam is part of everything we do in our life (school, work, family, friends). Next time someone asks for a bribe you refuse it, next time someone offers you a bribe you should refuse them, next time you see a girl getting harassed help stop it, treat people with respect, stop cheating and the list can keep growing for the things we can do, they can be small things like refusing to watch dramas that are not modest, stop idealizing people who show pride in being un-Islamic. We all know people who do illicit things; they might be our friends, family members or even our parents or kids. We can talk to them and advise them and not excuse/participate in those activities. Most importantly we need to look deep with in ourselves and realize our faults than try and change them. I am not claiming that it is an easy or simple thing to do on the contrary self correctness is probably the most challenging task. But looking at the reward for not just for ourselves but for our society as whole outweighs the hardships that we will have to endure. All this can be achieved if we are serious about Islam and genuinely want to make a better Pakistan under the light of Islam. West seems very alluring and beautiful but we can learn to see the beauty in Islam we will be less tempted to go off the path of Allah.

All this can be achieved by peaceful means, we need to work on self correctness and stop supporting people or organizations that are promoting westernization. We can start by calling objectionable TV shows and programs that glorify indecency and voice our disapproval. Call cable operators to stop channels and stop the playing of tasteless movies. Boycott sponsors and products that exploit male/female models and do not respect the importance of modesty in an Islamic culture. Stop watching or listening to actors, actresses, models who justify and willingly participate in the glamorization of indecency and equate modernization with westernization.

I know this a pretty long article and congratulation to all of those who have taken the time to read the whole thing ;). You might think I am nave or stupid to think if there is anything I can achieve by writing this. I know lot of us feel powerless and feel that there is nothing we can do about it. But if all us who feel that come together in say with one voice that we do need to modernize but not in the image of the west but instead in the image of Allah's will. We can strive for better education for both men and women, not only excel in science and technology but in tandem learn more about our religion but not just the basic rituals. We can also learn a lot from the west in terms of science, technology, accountability of actions and self pride, but we don’t need to learn things that will erode our religious identity. Pakistan can become the most successful nation by western standards but if it is built by sacrificing our religion than from an Islamic perspective we will be a "failed state". When I think about people who say that there is nothing we can do about this changing tide the image an animal being slaughtered comes to mind and even that animal when dieing tries to fight till it's last breath, are we worst than animal that we won't even try doing something for Islam that we bragly say is more important than life itself for us.

            In the end I would like to leave you with a quote from an Urdu novel which was also quoted in a book by Akbar Ahmed which might give a sense of things to come if we stay quite, "The bearded man tried hard to recollect: after a while, he said, 'all I can remember is that as I was leaving Granada ... ' '

Granada!' the rest of the people looked up at the bearded man with a stare . . . And the poor old bearded man, already shocked at their mocking disbelief, felt utterly distraught at the laughter . . . 'I've been uprooted,' he remarked dolefully, 'and that's what matters. What difference does it make now for me to remember whether it's Granada that I've been thrown out of, or Bait-al-Muqaddis [Jerusalem], or Jahanabad, or Kashmir . . .?' 

The depth of sadness in his voice had an intensely melancholy impact on all the men. They drifted into silence. After a while the bearded man said tearfully, 'Friends, we left behind all that was once ours, and now it seems we've even left behind our memories. ' (Husain 1973:93)".