As a practicing Sunni Muslim, I'm heartbroken seeing our faith decay from within in this country. Here's my honest confession.

Assalamu Alaikum, I have to get something off my chest that's been weighing on me for a long time. I'm a Sunni Muslim - Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah. Not just because I was born into it. Not because my family is. I spent a whole year pulling my faith apart - questioning everything, studying science, philosophy, theology - until my iman was almost gone. Then, slowly and painfully, I built it back up. I returned to Islam not out of routine or fear, but because I truly believe it's the truth. The complete truth. A deen - not just a religion, but a complete way of life. And that's exactly why what I see happening around me is tearing me up inside. **So many are Muslim only because their parents were. Nothing more.** Think about that. There's no personal search for truth. No real connection with the Quran beyond just reciting the words. No grasp that Islam is like a constitution - for each person, the family, society, everything. They read Quran but don't get it. They pray, make a big show out of Qurbani, fast in Ramadan - and call that Islam. It's not Islam. It's just an empty costume. And who taught them to wear this costume? The scholars. The Maulanas. The Muftis. The very people who were supposed to protect this deen. **Let me tell you about these scholars.** Lots of them aren't honest. They're mixed up in politics. They give fatwas based on who pays them or what party they back, not on real Islamic knowledge. And it's worse than just dishonesty. Madrasa teachers - the men we trust with our kids' Islamic upbringing - are abusing children. Doing the very haram things they preach against. There's so much mistreatment of women. Abuse hiding behind religious authority. And because the culture of blind following is so broken here, no one holds them responsible. People protect the abusers because they can't bear to question someone they've given their whole faith to. This isn't just a small issue anymore. It's everywhere. And it's happening right now. **Here's what really breaks my heart.** When a sincere Muslim with a real mind - someone with genuine doubts and questions - tries to honestly engage with the faith, what happens? The scholars attack them. "You're working for the enemies of Islam." "You're a deviant." "You're a kafir." So that questioning, smart person - who could have become a true scholar, a real benefit to the ummah - gets pushed away. Shamed. Cut off from the community. And then they find other spaces online. They find people who, for the first time, actually listen to their questions without accusing them of betrayal. And slowly, they leave Islam. I've watched this happen. It almost happened to me. Those who leave are still few here, but the number is growing. And every single one was failed first. Failed by corrupt scholars, failed by blind followers, failed by a society that mixed up rigidness with real deen. We basically created our own problem. Let that sink in (and yes, there are outside forces working on it too, but we made it easy for them). **And what about the young people who aren't religious?** They went out and protested. They got hurt. Some even died - for justice, for a better country. I really respect that courage. But not one of them was ever taught what it really means to stand up for the deen. Because no one ever showed them what the deen actually is. How could they sacrifice for something they never truly saw? We failed them too. **I don't have a perfect ending.** I don't have a neat solution. I just know that an Islam built on blind following, corrupt leaders, empty rituals, and being scared to think for ourselves can't last - and honestly, shouldn't. The Islam I believe in is so much better than what we've let it become here. And I'm really scared that by the time enough people see that, it'll be too late. Wa Alaikum Assalam.