Exhausted by so many cultural Muslims - need to vent
As-salamu alaykum. Please let me vent for a minute. 9 out of 10 Muslims I know or see every day seem to be cultural Muslims. To me these people are worse than non-believers because they give outsiders a wrong impression of Islam and of us. Where I'm from, cultural Muslims are basically secularists who just wear the "Muslim" label. Most only pray on Fridays. Those who do pray regularly often do it mechanically - they don't even seem to understand what they're reciting (I get choked up thinking about people reciting without feeling, like when someone mumbles Surah Masad). It feels like many don't understand taqwa, tawakkul, or even the basics of Islam. Some wear a hijab only around family, then take it off as soon as they go to university or travel a short distance from home - I've seen this happen so often. They'll lecture you about the importance of praying five times a day while they skip prayers themselves. Everything feels so surface-level. Some justify drinking beer by telling themselves it's less sinful than rum or whiskey. As someone who takes this deen seriously, I feel isolated among a sea of cultural Muslims. Even my own family members are like this. People have told me to make friends at the masjid, but the mosque circles here are more political than spiritual, and the masjid feels like a place where people just pray and leave. Honestly, it's really frustrating. Has anyone else experienced this? How do you cope with feeling alone in your commitment to Islam?