Modesty & The Internet

Image Source

Modesty in todays's world is not just the covering of the female, hiding behind a specifc dress. Because a Burqa or veil would be of no use if you are not modest at heart. So perdah or veil turns out to be and 'attitude' rather than a mere 'outfit'. So along with proper dressing we need to have the proper attitude as well.

First we need to understand the resons behind Islamic concept of chastity, modesty and perdah (Veil) It is all to stop the spread of immoralities. For women it offers protection rather than confinement. Today internet is also a place where we spend time and interact with people and we need to show our modesty here as well. I've often seen very inviting profile pictures, vulgur 'about me' sentence on the social media, and also not so acceptable status messages, cover photos and so on.

So we need to deepen our concepts of perdah and apply it to all places of influence. Especially for women, they should not be so easily avalaible, not for everyone to see and comment! I remember one of my friends very upset as she got a wide range of comments from unknown people in her facebook inbox, the day she put on her new profile picture, enventually she came to know she could actually disable this option of messages. So it must be realized that its a protection rather than confinement. So here are the rules I have set for myself: Keep my profiles everywhere private, & even if its public a very to-the-point and eligible content is shared. Which has no effect even if its public. I try not to make my profile a 'personal advert'! well that was the jist of it all!

'Haya' or 'Modesty' appears to be a forgotten value, seems to be losing its place. The words we used to avoid in the former days, today our conversations are never complete without them infact its 'trendy'. I wonder if it is because of western infulence or loss of Islamic values which is gradually making us immodest or 'bey-haya'.  

When I scroll down my Facebook home page, cover photos of my friends, the jokes and pictures being shared are not which I can see and share with my family. It sure is a pity.

In offices where communication is through messegners, people would often put up unreasonable things in their status messages, which in turn gives room to others to show unecessary frankness and indulge in   unecessary discussions. This should be avoided.

Hence there is a need to have a proper atitude because with the internet opportunities of all sorts of activities good and bad are multiplied!

Thank Allah to empower yourself!

Surah Luqman Verse 12:

"And We had certainly given Luqman wisdom [and said]. "Be greatfull to Allah." and whoever is greatful is greatful for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever denies[His favour]- then indeed, Allah is free of need and praiseworthy"

[Translation Source]

I just got to this verse once when i randomly opened the Quran, this verse made me think over the portion:

"whoever is greatful is greatful for [the benefit of] himself"

So it is us who need this thankfulness, Thankfulness or greatfulness to Allah is a multi-purpose activity, it has deep impact on our mind, heart & soul.

1. Keeps you positive
Like it or not, you have to metion all the good things that have happened to you when you're thanking Allah. This leaves us with so much positive thinking! So its like a psychotherapy and keeps us away from tentions and depressions. And once this becomes a habbit one can always find reasons to thank Allah in the most trying conditions.

2. Helps avoid self pity
Self-pity is fatal for a personality, once you start having pity on yourself (height of negativity) you'll visibly lose the potential to face a trial. Hopelessness is which would take over from then onwards, but a person thankful to Allah would never commit this crime called self-pity, because he knows there are plenty of reasons to thank!

3. Leaves you with positivity about future
It gives you a notion that since Allah has not abandoned you uptill now, He would definately not abandon you in future too!

4. Helpful in getting Allah's love... (Husn & Ehsaan)
This is the most important part I read in a book(have forgotten the name) that love has two reaosns: "Husn" (beauty) and "ehsaan"(favour) we can find both these in Allah! so when we'll be thinking & thanking about his favours we'll be guiding ourselves to his love! Also I'd like to make a point here that the more we interact with Allah (i.e. through 'Dua' prayers) the more we are to fall in love with Him.

So lets start thanking Him right away!

The Centripetal force in "Remembering God"

Image Source

The title of this post has two meanings, one is the centripetal force in this book called "Remembering God"(i.e. This book helps our journey towards the center: Allah) and the centripetal force in the remembrance of God (i.e. dhikar ).

First I would explain the concept of this centripetal force, as explained by Gai Eaton in this book and I so totally loved his way of explaining a simple concept.

He defines the center as God or Allah i.e. our origin and destination. The forces that take take us towards the center(centripetal) are remembrance of Allah and other religious traditions and rituals. On the other hand the forces that take us away from the center(centrifugal) (distract us in other words) are the love of this world, worldly desires and so on.

So the signal I took from this was that we should be having maximum of centripetal force in our lives to lower the impact of other distracting forces. The heart has been explained as a mirror in many saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W.) and time and again we are required to "polish" the mirror. Gai Eaton in this regard says that in today's world just polishing wont do, we need to scrub this mirror: Here is an excerpt:

"Among the complexities of modern life and the forgetfulness which they encourage, it may take more than polishing to offset the dimming of heart's vision. It needs to be well scrubbed if its inherent purity is to be restored and maintained."

Here I would like to add a personal though that every other thing and the love of things adds a layer of insensitivity on our heart, this insensitivity takes us away from Allah and his remembrance. Getting back to his book this is what he has to say regarding wealth and comforts of life:

"There is nothing inherently wrong with the comforts provided by the modern world, better hygiene better drainage, more convenient means of transport but these count for nothing if their sweet embrace encourages us to forget our origin and our end "

"Wealth if gained through legitimate means, is to be relished like any other gift from above but never squandered, the responsibilities which come with it are a heavy burden. Since the rich man is exposed to temptations which do not gather around the poor, he knows that his good fortune is also a test both profound and severe."

Other concepts worth sharing are:

"There is a 'hot' faith and a 'cold' one; the first is passionate, emotional rather than intellectual, while the second dwells in the mind rather than the breast and is a function of intellect. Ideally, these two go together, each supporting the other"

"Why are muslims commanded to pray five times a day, throughout their lives? To many who stand outside the community of Islam, this seems excessive. It is barely adequate. Prayer is the most effective weapon against the centrifugal force, against the tendency with each hour that passes, to slide downwards, away from the light; it is alo the 'polish' which removes rust from the heart. It halts the slide but only temporarily, which is why it has to be constantly repeated. "

We Protest!

The shameful movie by some Americans showing disrespect to our Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.W. shows the extent to which 'freedom of expression' unbound by moral values can take us to. They have shown what the teachings of their religion are, and what is the stance of their faith when it comes to respect for other faiths.

Sad was the reaction of Muslims, the other day I received an sms from a friend (a forwarded message basically) that people in Libya burnt some American official alive and what have we done for the respect of our beloved Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.W.?

Image Source

I was deeply amazed and terrified having received two to three similar messages. It was even sad to see how some self-destructive people in our country reacted and destroyed our own property and resources. How easy it is for them to spread unrest in our country that they don't even need to come here! We are self-destructive! Just the trigger needs to be known! And I so totally feel ashamed of the show going on at the diplomatic enclave, I wonder how the overseas Pakistanis bear with such frequent shames! The result of such a protest is that the shameful movie got sidelined and the acts of voilence are highlighted and discussed.

Here is the contrast between Turkey and Pakistan!

[Source] Protest in Turkey

[Source] Protest in Pakistan

Protest should 'show' whom we are protesting for, the great person, the unmatched example Hazrat Muhammad S.A.W.W. In fact our day to day matters should showcase the superior teachings of Islam and its a pity that we are far from implementing Islam in our lives. Each of our action against the teachings of Islam shows disrespect to Islam and Hazrat Muhammaf S.A.W.W and not to mention how everyone adjusts and changes the religion to suit his/her need and lifestyle! Our protest should show what his teachings were. We are the ambassadors of Islam they are the ambassadors of Christianity. They showed what they had to show and it was our turn to show our grace but we have lost the opportunity. So lets grab whatever is left and lets protest!

Lets protest through every possible media, lets use whichever discussion forum, networking site we have joined. Lets tell them that freedom of expression has to be within moral bounds, lets show them how to respect other faiths, lets teach the secular states a lesson. Our actions will not only speak but slap even! Lets protest through every peaceful mean. Lets recite as much Darood as we can as it is the demand of the time. Lets spread the teachings of Islam to every corner of the world, Lets try and bring our actions more and more in line with the teachings of Islam, Lets pray that may Allah bring the evil minds to justice and guide them towards the right path.

And finally lets thank them for bringing us closer to our religion and our Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.W. And lets thank them for uniting us!

What makes women age conscious?

Age is just a number if you have not grown through life rather you've just gone through it, but for women (men too these days) this is the top secret and they just don't want to go beyond a certain figure! yeah! they want to stay young all their life! Being your own age makes you more attractive if the purpose is to be 'attractive forever'!

It makes me wonder that after all what are the solid reasons that make women age conscious?, why would they try to remain trapped in a younger age? The motivation behind this post is interaction with such people! and again this is post is a light one not meant to ridicule anyone just give my personal views which could be wrong as well. 

[Note: the reason I am using the words 'they', 'them' and not using 'us' is that Alhamdulillah I am not age conscious being 25 and ready to turn 26 any moment!]

1. The most obvious one: They would like to live forever, so, are we Muslims? The aim should be to try and  stay fit for good deeds. 

2. Being attractive forever, I think we need to redefine 'attraction' and 'beauty' because I feel that beauty of a person needs to be understood than just be seen. Beauty is not just one thing called appearance. As for attraction the people you carry themselves according to their age are more attractive than those reverting to a younger age.

3. The probably think that old age would deprive them of the blessings of youth, I feel that every stage of your life is better than the previous one provided you grow through your experiences and discover the charm of every age. It is a fact that you' re bound to move towards decline its a law of nature that cannot be avoided but only accepted as something from Allah. 

4. A very common argument "Dil jawan hona chahiya" meaning that you should be young at heart. it is not the figure called age that makes you dull or lifeless with time, it is your reaction to happenings that makes us so, so the heart should be strong and filled with Allah's love to be full of life forever! ready to forego anything anywhere for HIS sake, the confidence you get with such a sense is the real confidence which would never let you become lifeless!

5. The most horrible reason is to increase your 'market value' in order to get married! Well, commitments should be based on truth alone other wise such commitments are bound to break, and also harm the families involved. If someone has to reject you based on your 'specifications' then its best to be rejected!

Eagerly looking forward to comments and criticism!