🕯️This Is Not a Community — It’s a Hollow Shell

The heart of Islam is connection—but today’s communities echo with silence, smiles without souls, rituals without spirit, and charity without sincerity.

We were told what would happen to our communities. That Islam would become a name without meaning. A body without soul. A shell without heart.

And today, we see it.

We gather in mosques, but our hearts are strangers. We scroll through posts, but truth is met with silence. There is no pulse, no reciprocity, no real humanity. Only performance. Images. Phrases. Platitudes.

We are surrounded by a form of community. But what good is form without function? Smiles without sincerity? Rituals without repentance?

Our faith taught us that community is not attendance. It is response. It is heart. It is care that moves, truth that reaches, and souls that meet.

But today we see what Imam Ali (as) warned of: that the body of Islam would remain, while the spirit would be lifted.

You put out knowledge—silence.
You call for sincerity—silence.
You ask for reflection—smiles, nods, and then… nothing.

Charity has become an act of self-satisfaction, not spirit. Zakat forgotten. Sadaqah publicized. Food is handed out, but dignity is not. And the poor? Still poor. The wounded? Still alone.

The real building of a soul starts with the inner law, the response of the heart. The Prophet (saw) said, "The best of people are those who are most beneficial to others.” But how can we be beneficial if we cannot even recognize the suffering next to us?

This is not a community.
It is a hollow shell.
And I will keep saying it, until someone hears.

Because silence is not virtue when truth is being buried.