The Celebrated Menace

Assalamu Alaikum. Any society built on a sound moral foundation will surely stand the test of time but not so with a society whose founding principles are based on immorality and absolute materialism. A critical analysis of our society today reveals an ugly picture and wittingly or unwittingly we all are part of this grand design. Today, we are living in a society where sin, vice and immorality are glorified as though they are the legitimate license of being successful in this world and in the hereafter. What Allah out of His mercy and wisdom has decided as a good life for us, Man out of his ignorance and arrogance has decided the direct opposite. And as long as we will not shift our logic from that direction, we will be losers in this world and in the hereafter.

Allah in His infinite mercy says: "And come not near to unlawful sexual intercourse. Verily, it is a faahishah (a great sin) and an evil way." (Q:17 Surah Al-Israa verse 32).

Imaam al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The scholars said that the phrase And come not near to unlawful sexual intercourse is more eloquent than merely saying Do not commit zinaa, because the meaning is, Do not even come close to zinaa. This means not doing any deed that may get close to zinaa or lead to it, such as being alone with a member of the opposite sex, touching, looking, going to evil places, speaking in a haraam manner to a woman to whom one is not related, thinking about and planning immoral acts, and so on. In halal wal-haram fil-Islam of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, he said regarding the above verse, that when Allah prohibits something He closes all the avenues that leads to it. The prophet(saw) said: "If one of you were to be stabbed in the head with a piece of iron it would be better for him than if he were to touch a woman whom it is not permissible for him to touch." (Reported by al-Tabaraani; see also Saheeh al-Jaami, 5045). 

Now let us look at our society today and see what is obtainable; the more immoral a person is, the more celebrated he becomes and study the life of most of these social icons and celebrities and you will agree with me without any fear of contradiction that all the accolades they are receiving are as a result of their high level of immorality. Unfortunately, these are the people our young Muslims are desperately looking up to and they follow in their foot steps religiously least forgetting the hadith of the prophet(saw) that warns against blind following, "Whoever imitates a people is one of them"(reported by Abu Dawud, Ahmad).   Every soul will be resurrected according to its love. So, whoever loved kufr will be with the disbelievers, and his good deeds will not benefit him at all. [Tabarani] Whoever loves a people, Allah will resurrect him in their group. [Tabarani]. 

The society condones zina (adultery and fornication)  and the ripple effects of this is the reality presented before us. We have arrogantly and happily moved from Zina to homosexuality, to bestiality, to drugs and more so to glorified nakedness in a desperate bid to enlist ourselves in the books of moral dacadence. The sick society we live in today considers itself advanced and civilized if Allah's disobedience is the norm but where there is sanity, morality and god-consciousness, it fanatically frowns at itself and accuses itself of being backward, uncivilized, archaic and more so anti- social . We are so sick a society and extremely immoral to such an extent that we consider it a plus factor to brag and show no remorse for our evil deeds and even celebrate the criminals in our midst, that is if we are even lucky not to be part of the criminals ourselves.

Where lies the solution, where lies it not? The believer has high hope and aspiration for the best from Allah. He not only asks Allah for making his punishment easy in hellfire, but he also prays to Allah the Almighty to save him from Hell and award him with paradise for his repentance and good deeds. We have to sincerely start blaming ourselves in order to change ourselves. Let us go back to the Qur'an and Sunnah, let us all make sincere efforts towards changing the society to a more moral outfit where sincerity of purpose and God-consciousness will be  the slogan. We must define our boundaries and make them known to those we relate with because most a times, we tend to be victims of peer-pressure. Imam Al-Ghazali made a brilliant statement in 'Khuluq-l-Muslim that, to pay respect to the foolish and unintelligent people does not mean that their low and superficial acts should be accepted. 

May my Allah increase us in Eeman, certainty and understanding. Yours in Islam Abdullah

@amraabdul and abuuaminah@yahoo.com