HOW many people do you know who have been in situations which have turned their lives upside down? How many allowed their beards to grow and decided to be religious before changing their minds and returning to their former state? How many people became extremists overnight and harmed their families and friends before turning their backs on such behavior and returning to how they were before? I know a man who used to go for Haj every year. When I told him he should give other Muslims a chance and stop going for Haj, he said anyone who had money and health did not have any excuse and should perform this important ritual every year. A few years later, I met him and asked him why he was not going for Haj that year. His answer was that one must perform Haj once in a lifetime and that he is free to perform it again if he so wishes. He said that performing Haj once is an obligation, but that performing it more than once was a matter of choice. I am not writing this article to criticize this man. I just want to bring the attention of readers to the fact that people frequently change. The problem does not lie in frequent changes, but in hypocrisy. A person might change from inside but maintain the same external appearance. This is when he starts to suffer from contradictions. He will always try to show people that he has not changed in order to show them that he is still the same righteous person. Personally speaking, I do not worry about anyone who has shaved his beard or started smoking. However, what really scares me are those people who gradually give up their beliefs and ideas but never show it to the public and maintain the same appearance so people do not know about the changes that have occurred within. Hypocrites are dangerous to society because they are not going through a temporary state. Rather, they are like this forever. Moderation is always the key and one should always be moderate in thought and action.
