By Abdullahi Jamaa
Part of Islam is leaving and avoiding that which does not concern you. It is about avoiding things that do not matter at all in one’s life. Most of these avoidable things compromise our very existence as human beings.
In Islam piety has three levels, the first is to protect the heart and limbs against sins and forbidden actions, the second is protecting oneself against undesirable matters and the third is avoiding curiosity and whatever that is not of one’s concern.
According to Ibn Qayyim, the great Muslim medieval scholar, these three levels of piety will each grant an outstanding reward to a believer. The first level will grant life, the second health and power while the third will grant him happiness and joy.
To be pious therefore means to live healthy, be powerful, happy and joyous. What more can one seek in life? Most people in the world are seeking success and fulfilment oblivious of the rewards of piety.
The use of social media severely injured our piety, widening the environment of sins and disobedience while compromising our quality of life. It inundates our faith with relentless negativity and spiritual pomposity.
Its proliferation transformed our way of life, defining our personality and putting us into constant crossroads with our religion, decency and common sense. In it we indulge in grave sins that slowly eats up our mind.
The social fabrics of our community is fraying at the edges, personal morality and decorum is extremely ravaged while honesty and integrity has long been thrown out of the window.
The world of Social media is a sea of evil, an entangled web of virtual destruction and a place of endless altercation- the deathbed of personality.
Most often, we are concerned about other people’s life instead of our very own. The more we speak out our minds on online platforms the more we lie, backbite and gossip.
Unethical and humiliating posts have long crossed the red line. Seeking fame and name through an onslaught of insults is seemingly the order of the game.
Above anything, the rights of individuals are violated and the privacy of families exposed without any regard to their chastity.
It is that time to ask ourselves so many hard questions and seek honest answers in order to deal with the ugly menace of modern-day technology.
And the only way out of the woods is to remain pious and guard our chastity in this era of social media shame.
While negative impact of online platform is crosscutting, Muslim women especially those in leadership and working professions must fortify their life by remaining true to their religion.
We must very well understand that the opposite of piety is evilness which makes one to fall into dangerous gorges of sins, shame and regrets.
The consequence of committing sins includes lack of success, absence of righteousness, corruption of the heart, wasting time, sadness, grief, miserable life and endless disappointments. And much more…
Life is like a garden, if you plant a tree of faith and piety it will give the sweetness of hereafter and if you plant a tree of arrogance and desire it will give a bitter fruit.
Therefore………..
The only way to guard your chastity in this era of online Fitnah is to carefully watch out your eye, ear, heart and tongue and control how you use each one of them on these platforms. One has to keep away from committing sins as they humiliated Adam (PBUH) when he was expelled from paradise.
Sins are wounds and only one wound may cause death. Sins involve indulging in pleasure such as backbiting, gossiping, drinking alcohol, fornication and adultery. Engaging in sin means gambling with one’s life.
Everyone will pass through low times and will certainly sin but do not sink into a total sleep as the morning of the hereafter is so close. Allah is forgiving and merciful, seek repentance and submit your life to the creator.
“If your aim is piety, other aims are never missed” Ibn Qayyim.
