<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/ssstwitter.com_1786528767752" title="6 Years Madinah" width="560" height="384" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen> </iframe> That's because 2-3 years Dagestan is for developing mental and physical toughness, integrity. But you won't fit that mold if you don't serve the betterment of the world. He's not wrong - what do you know? How are you supposed to defend or champion any religious belief without ever having truly learnt anything about it in depth? It fascinates me that influencers simply do not understand that what they do for a living is just objectively distasteful and vain. Beyond the world of appearances, there exists a world with real people in it where your money and attention mean nothing--or very little. I head out to Dagestan once every few years, I'll meet a bunch of religious Muslims, nice people usually - and none of them are on internet debates styling and fashioning themselves as "defenders of the faith". They simply won't allow themselves to take up that mission, because they understand that it comes with the weight of responsibility. True spiritual living cannot coexist with an expansionist, competitive attitude. Not everything is a game of popularity and numbers. What use is all this influence if you can't even bring yourself to use it to ease the suffering of others, or to teach something useful and beneficial to those who need it? No proper society of men will hold respect for you just because you've convinced young and impressionable people to watch you fake reactions on camera. Not in my part of the world, at least. It is only in the west where a man's value is determined by his follower count and by the thickness of his wallet. Not that popularity and money are negative things. Not at all. But these are not a metric for neither capacity or virtue. Same thing for Christians. If they spent as much time working to become better Christians instead of spam-quoting scripture and arguing with people online who disagree with their views, perhaps we'd live in better and humbler times. Fun story I heard from a decade-or-so ago, a local monk built a little stone church here in one of the more remote areas, completely alone over many years - they sent a media team to interview him after he finished the construction. "I have nothing to say," the guy told them. "But we came all this way just to interview you," they said. "We want to help you spread your message, the people want to know what you have to say." "Tell them I had nothing to say." And sent them back.