An Islamic or A Muslim country?

       Pakistan is a Muslim-majority country, but not an Islamic country in the true sense of the word. Yes, Alhamdulillah, we, Muslims, do believe in the oneness of Allah and the finality of the prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) but, we fail to completely follow the traditions of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H).
     
       Most of the population of Pakistan suffers from this disease. We aimlessly follow the footsteps of our Moulvis and Alims and since about 45% of the population is illiterate, they are slowly brainwashed into believing their false ideas. I doubt that anyone of us would even bother to check in the "Saheih Bukhari" (considered the most authentic source of Prophet's S.A.W traditions) of the false ideas preached by such Moulvis. If someone uses the correct method of a prayer, according to the traditions of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H), he would be ridiculed in the society. We have to change this attitude. Rather than realizing our own mistake, we try to outsmart the truth and laugh at the honest. This slowly causes degeneration and division of society.
     
         I have also faced this type of ridicule. I recently found out from the Saheih Bukhari, that the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) used to do "Rafa-udain" in prayers and he used to hold his hands up high such that his sleeves would come down  a little back. I used this method last Friday, at the Mosque, only to find myself to be ridiculed and laughed at as I was offering my prayer. and when I held my hands up high according to the Hadith, a man started saying, "Can't you hold your hands a bit higher." And he started to giggled loudly. This outraged me, but I kept quite and tried to assure him that this was in the Saheih Bukhari. Instead of realizing his own mistake, he accused me of being a lair and cursed me. I walked away without another word.

          This made me realize that in our society, we have left all the responsibility on religion on Moulvis and Alims, who bend it in their own favor without fear of consequence and we, blindly, follow these personnel without the authenticity of their ideas. This gives rise to extremism and division of opinions such as seen today. One way to avoid this would be to make education free for all, as the Holy Quran states:

"It is obligatory for every Muslim (male or female) to acquire knowledge."

           But in our situation, provision of free education will take time. So the best we can do right now, is to not believe anyone about religious practices without checking the authenticity of his ideas.

            And if you don't believe me about the true method of prayers then, check the Saheih Bukhari yourself.