We often cry and mourn our estrangement from our homelands, yet we forget to shed tears over a much more dangerous estrangement, which is the estrangement of morals. The deep consequences of the estrangement of our Arab and Muslim societies from their morals, especially outside our homelands, have greatly distorted our image in front of each other and in front of other societies. 

What is the estrangement of morals? 

It is the condition in which morals become outside the realm of social considerations, causing values to erode, principles to be abandoned, the compass of guilt to be lost, and the absence of moral restraint for the individual or society in general. 

This phenomenon, unfortunately, is proliferating among Arab and Muslim communities outside their homelands. While I do not wish to speak in a generalizing manner, it is very important and necessary to shed light on negative phenomena to diagnose a serious disease that is ravaging us outside our countries, increasing our estrangement, and affecting our reality and future. 

Indeed, nations are defined by their morals as long as they exist.. 
When I was in school, I first heard some verses of poetry by the Prince of Poets, Ahmed Shawqi, in which he says: 

And honesty is the highest thing that men have been shaken by               And the best thing that a father has accustomed his son to in life.

Indeed, nations are defined by their morals as long as they exist                     If their morals go away, they go too.

I have felt the value of these verses in many instances during my eight years of estrangement, starting from my personal experiences, then the stories and events I witnessed or experienced. Unfortunately, while the traveler or immigrant in previous times was an ambassador for his people, conveying their morals, values, and etiquettes, immigration and estrangement today have become a motivation for many to detach from values and principles. 

How many times have we heard about Arab women in Europe exploiting European laws biased toward women to detach from stable marital life, or how many times have we heard about the emergence of strange ideas contrary to our values and the values of the community we were raised in? 

On the new social platform "TikTok," we are witnessing major disasters, indicating disintegrated families where morals and principles hold no value, but rather are built on a material basis and a love for fame, even at the cost of scandals!!.

So what future can we hope for our communities when their values have eroded and their morals have become terrifyingly estranged, especially with the emergence of new generations who might find these immoral models as role models for the future?

Examples of the forms of moral and value estrangement in exile

There are many forms that can be observed among some expatriates who have abandoned their morals and values and now suffer from the problem of moral estrangement, such as: 

- Focusing on purely material aspects in social relationships.

- Building friendships and relationships solely based on self-interest and benefit. 

- The spread of betrayal, deceit, cunning, and trickery. 

- The absence of religious and moral deterrents. 

- Abandoning family stability. 

- Being engulfed in ideas distant from our moral frameworks, such as deviation.

- Permitting the prohibited, and being unconcerned about whether one's earnings are lawful or unlawful. 

- Losing responsibility in raising children. 

- The desire to rise on the shoulders of others, and the spread of "opportunism." 

- Rebelling against established social and religious values. 

- Attacking Arab societies and their morals, and making that a media material for fame and spread.

- Focusing on Western superiority and despising oneself in front of this superiority.

- The spread of exploitation. 

- The spread of fraud and lies. 

- The prevalence of marital betrayals, betrayals among friends, and disrespect for community ties and companionship.

The consequences of losing morals on our Arab communities in exile 

The estrangement of morals we are talking about can have many consequences that are hardly commendable, and it could be the basis for significant deviation in social relationships and the meanings of values and principles among our children in the future. Some examples of these consequences include: 

- Disbelief among community members, and building relationships solely based on self-interest. 

- The absence of justice and fairness.

- Loss of empathy and human connection. 

- Being preoccupied with trivial and worthless problems and disputes, rather than focusing on central issues in our countries and communities.

- Increased feelings of discrimination and superiority among those excelling in fields of unethical fame.

- The collapse of bonds between communities.

- Moral decay, reaching a stage where "everything is permissible" or what is known as "normalizing bad behaviors."

- The absence of accountability for people's actions, and the lack of a moral standard for accountability, if it exists at all.

Can we address this problem? 

Yes, definitely we can. The thoughts of solutions to the problem of moral estrangement lead us to many appropriate ways to address this moral and social crisis, which can be represented as follows: 

- Focusing on teaching morals, and conducting continuous moral discussions and dialogues among expatriates, especially children, to contribute to developing a solid moral compass. 

- Enhancing feelings of empathy and compassion through relevant community programs. 

- Encouraging participation in voluntary work. 

- Opposing ideas and approaches that promote moral estrangement. 

- Activating the sense of responsibility among community members and its institutions towards unethical behaviors. This is very important to reduce moral estrangement by making such behaviors contrary to recognized values and subject to criticism and accountability. 

- Showcasing respected moral role models, and combatting the widespread immoral role models across social media. 

- Reaching out to community members via social media platforms but with programs and strategies that differ from the currently popular methods of fame, to compete with the unethical in their areas of activity.