It is shameful to see in this era a group of speakers and theorists, whether they are officials in leadership positions, independent figures, or even influencers in various media outlets, seeking to dominate the scene with their brilliant speeches about values, principles, integrity, and sincerity, while their daily practices reveal a stark contradiction between words and deeds.
These are the ones who embodied the immortal line of poetry: “Do not forbid a person and do something like him. Shame on you if you do is great.”
The danger posed by these people is no less than the danger of the hypocrites who were contemporary with the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, in Medina, when they demonstrated piety and faith, and concealed hatred and hypocrisy. The hypocrite in every age is the one who adorns himself in the guise of righteousness in order to hide behind it the ugliness of corruption and bad intentions.
These contemporaries, even if their tools differ, are on the same approach, raising idealistic slogans, talking about justice, transparency, and moral leadership, but in reality they practice the exact opposite, and spread administrative corruption, injustice, and selfishness in their institutions and societies.
The biggest problem is that their eloquent speech mesmerizes people, so many are deceived by the apparent meaning of what they say and the cleverness of their presentation, not realizing that what is said does not reflect what is done. Some of these people possess high culture and eloquence, but they lack the most basic elements of honesty and sincerity.
You see them paying lip service to the concepts of motivational leadership, governance, and integrity, while in their administrative reality they practice exclusion, nurture a culture of flattery, and exclude competencies for the sake of personal interests.
Such moral duplicity not only destroys an individual’s reputation, but also destroys institutions and societies from within. It spreads frustration among employees, loses confidence between leaders and subordinates, and instills in future generations a false concept of success, status, and role models. How do we convince an employee to be sincere at work, when his senior manager is an example of contradiction and hypocrisy?! How do we cultivate faith in values if the faces that speak them are the same ones that violate them in secret?!
Time can reveal the falsehood, as a deceptive word may deceive the eyes for a moment, but it does not withstand the truth of the action. Anyone who has lived with these people and interacted with them closely realizes that the glamor with which they surround themselves is nothing but intellectual cosmetics, behind which an ugly face of falsity and selfishness is hidden. As they say: “You can fool people some of the time, but you can’t fool them all of the time.”
In our time, we are plagued by the spread of these models, who wear the cloak of idealism while their actions are diabolical, who speak of sincerity while practicing betrayal, and call for integrity while mired in nepotism and hypocrisy. However, God’s promise remains true: “And they plot and God plots, and God is the best of planners.” God reveals them sooner or later, and exposes their contradiction to people, so that they can be an example to others.
In conclusion, my advice to everyone who hears or sees these people is: Do not be fooled by appearances, and do not be tempted by buzzing words. Not every speaker is a role model, nor is everyone who calls for values a believer in them. Judge people by their actions, not their words, and judge officials by their behavior, not their speeches. Honesty cannot be faked, sincerity cannot be feigned, and the hypocrite, no matter how beautiful he is, what is hidden from him is greater and more sinister.
May God protect us and you from this sick disease, and protect us from the evil of falsehood and its people.
