There is a new anti-smoking medicine out there. I first tried it during a business trip in Scotland. It works as follows: you gurgle with it before you smoke, it washes out and purifies your taste buds such that if you try to pop in a cigarette in the next 24 hours, you cannot help but cringe at the unbearably bitter taste of the toxins contained therein.

Now, whether you can actually taste them or not, these toxins are always there when you smoke, doing their number on your lungs, blood, skin, teeth, hair, etc. Smokers may think they are better of not tasting the toxins; but then again, if they could always taste them, they would realize the reality of what they are getting into, the reality of feeding on poison. Who would continue to smoke if the act of smoking itself was an unbearable experience and not a seemingly pleasant and rewarding one? Who would smoke if the act of smoking actually felt as repulsive as its effect?

Are we doing Islam justice by merely engaging in rituals while failing to allow them to transform our characters and our outlook on life? Can we go on placing emphasis on reading and memorizing the Quran while failing to place the same emphasis on understanding it and allowing its teachings to permeate us and elevate us to a higher standard of humanity? Can we continue to engage in the same petty conflicts and egotistical exploits of those who seek personal gain, evoking Islam and Allah only so far as that seems to validate and legitimize our unholy pursuits? Yes, there certainly is a problem out there, and we Muslims need to be the first to acknowledge it. The solution rests on our shoulders: a humble rediscovery of Islam and a re-prioritization of our approach to our faith.

Instead of guilt-tripping, an alternative approach, one that I would argue is truer to the spirit of Islam, is conscience-building. This necessitates a return to intellectual stimulation, a cornerstone of the bygone golden ages that seems to have virtually vanished from Islamic early education the world over, only to be replaced by a cacophony of anxious teachers and parents dishing blind - if well-intended - orders and admonishments.