Facebook addiction: Let Sultan speak louder

By Ibrahim Muhammed

During the National Edition of the Quranic Recitation Competition, Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, had expressed his concerns over the rate social media is keeping youths especially girls from their studies. “According to him, if girls who are nerve center of our moral and societal development derail, the whole society will be in danger because they are our mothers and care givers.” Th e negative psychological impacts of our young girls living virtually all their life on social media has manifested itself in the ranging issue of social malaise like drug addiction, lesbianism, empty headed graduates and street phonographic motion movie in the name of ‘modern dressing’.

Th ere is a looming danger in what the Sultan said because it is not a political statement; it was not reechoed in the media. Social media networks likes facebook, twitter and rest are like two faced Janus. Th ere are positive and negative demand and supply online. If you request for the positive information, you will be supplied likewise the bad and the ugly. However, our levels of literacy in the society limits our capability to explore the positive side’ rather what we have is ‘bad utilization of social media’ especially our young ladies. It is quite regrettable how some parents abandoned their primary responsibility of guarding and guiding their children aff airs for worldly and vainly materialistic acquisition. Our Islamiya school are not left out.

I have witness a situation in an Islamiya school where a young lady in her 17 refuses to submit her handset to her Mallam during exam because according to her, she could not aff ord to spend an hour without her phone. If managed well, technology can improve our schools and education, deepen social connectedness, expand civic engagement and even help advance our democracy. But for these positive outcomes to occur, we as a society must confront the challenges endemic in our 24/7 digital world. We need legislation, educational eff orts and norms that refl ect Islamic backgrounds to maximize the opportunities and minimize the risks.

Th e crusade against vices associated with social media addiction should be taken to schools, Islamiya Schools, Mosques and be quartered in our homes and communities if we are really serious in what would becomes of our young Muslims tomorrow. How Social Media aff ects Islam “Mass media as we all know is a means of public communication in reaching a large audience, in the past this is usually achieved through the use of town-criers and horse men to deliver messages within and outside communities, those medium were less advanced and thus subject to control and also less probable of truncating the limits of Islamic jurisdictions.

Today, this means has gradually evolved into the use of facilities like the satellite TV, telephones, billboard, social networks such as Facebook, twitter, and so on. Th ese social networks are today known as the social media because they invariable support the spread of information and in the least controlled manner also. Th e media can bring changes in behavior and attitude of the people by emphasizing certain issues. But today due to the lack of control and rightful actions, these tools are used to de-propagate the religion of Islam by showcasing anti-Islamic vices, promoting anti-Islamic ethics (westernization and western habits as well as their approach to matters) We shall however outline some of its negative and positive impacts on Islam as well as a best practice approach to utilizing its potentials positively insha-Allah.

Promotion of indecency Islam propagates the emulation of certain manners by Muslims, these manners are without a reason to better the ummah in general, and one of such is the lowering of the gaze as stipulated in the following ayah where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala said “Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do” [Surah An Noor 24:30] Th e rule of modesty applies to men as well as women. A brazen stare by a man at a woman (or even at a man) is a breach of this refi ned manner.

Th is is a commendable virtue which today has been abridged by the social media platforms we have. Th e expression of almost naked pictures of both men and women on social media such a Facebook, Blackberry messenger, twitter as well as all other electronic communication mediums has made it almost impossible for the Muslim community that utilizes such tools to uphold such a noble command from the Almighty Allah.

Th is is ultimately because it is not easy refusing to enlarge the display picture of that Aura exposed girls or guy on your social network profi le. Unguarded Utterances One of the founding principles of the media is “freedom of speech”, freedom of speech irrespective of its eff ect on the individuality of society, freedom of speech weather blasphemous in nature to the principles of not only islam but also other people ideology in general. Abu hurairah reported that the messenger of Allah SAW said,

“…He who believes in Allah and the last day, let him speak good or remain silent” Bukhari and Muslim Th e Prophet has commanded “good” in the speech of man, this is to promote good qualities in individuals and promote peaceful coexistence beyond the right to utter anything we like in the name of “freedom of speech and expression” which only end in sowing seed of discourse between people.

Th is prophetic manner is also an indication of the faith in Muslim for He said “…He who believes in Allah and the last day…” Th is manner is fast becoming absent today in the way words are being exchanged through social media. Updates of Un-godly statement are the trends of the day on our social media. We should be aware that the things we write online are also recorded by the angels so we shouldn’t allow ourselves to fall into a false sense of security thinking that our anonymous comments go unrecorded. Demonization of Islam and Muslims Abu Darda reported that the prophet SAW said “nothing will be heavier on the scale of the believers on the day of resurrection than good manners; Allah hates one who utters foul or coarse language”

At-Tirmidhi In another tradition, Abdullah Bin Umar reported that the Prophet SAW said “the best of companions to Allah is one who is best to his companions and the best of neighbors to Allah is the one who is the best of them to his neighbors. At Tirmidhi So how does one defi ne as “radical” a religion that preaches the best of manners and thereby forbidden the utterance of utter and foul language? How do you defi ne as “extreme” a religion that preaches the best in a man as that who is best to his neighbors? So how does one defi ne as “terrorism” a religion that preaches kindness to animals and even plants? Th e Western media usually identifi es “Islam” in Muslim confl icts.

It hardly points other religions out in their confl icts. For example, the news would say, “Five Israelis may have been shot, but they were shot by fi ve Muslims”, instead of saying “Five Israelis were shot by fi ve Palestinians”. Th e media often reverses this action when a confl ict is against Muslims, for example the news would usually say “Bosnians are being killed by Serbians”, but instead rarely says, “Muslims are being killed by Christians” However, we can also use social media in positive ways like teaching the Quran. “Uthman bin Aff an reported that Th e Prophet said, “Th e most superior among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.”

People can now learn the language of the Quran as well as its recitation within the comfort of their homes. Islamic internet websites provides question and answer segments which are closely regulated by certifi ed clerics and Ulamas of the Deen and I don’t mean sheikh Google and Mufti Facebook.” Additional Sources: islamcreedng.

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