Eerie Reality| Part 1

As a small child, my life revolved around doll-houses, huge colorful beach balls, cycling, Tom & Jerry, coloring, painting, and playing all day long. Computer for me was paint and pinball. Google was a word unknown, and so was internet itself. Fairy tales were true, happening somewhere far away. My li’l mind used to get fascinated by things deserving fascination. Do unicorns exist? How does an airplane fly in the sky? How do ants walk in a single line? I might have even spent entire days following the ants, trying to find out where exactly was their home. Hoping to see a real rainbow after rain, I would wait in the backyard trying to catch it’s first glimpse. That was life for me. Hardly a decade ago.

The world has changed now. Today’s kids are different. Eerily different. One told me that he had a friend at school who was a “girl”, and went on to explain she was just a friend and not a “girlfriend”. Another cousin of mine was browsing videos on youtube. After asking her what she was up to, she confessed that she wasn’t allowed to access “such” videos in front of her parents, so she had to do it stealthily. Another cousin, who has been denied access to facebook by her parents,  secretly updates “love” statuses at 3 am in the night. I feel at a loss for words. Where in the world did they learn all this from? Where has that sweet innocence disappeared?

Personally, I feel unsafe browsing on the internet. The amount of vulgarity that has polluted these search engines makes me feel so insecure. The other day I was googling for something and was just typing “How to…” in Google and I knew what usually appears coz I’m used to it. But, my Mom happened to glance at the screen in that split second and she was shocked. “What was that?!” “Umm..I dunno.. google is crazy… people are crazy”, was all I could say. I was embarrassed. You deactivate Facebook or twitter, coz your friends have crossed limits of immodesty and you can’t take it in anymore. You join wordpress or blogspot or tumblr instead- to vent out, to make new friends, to socialize a little. They do the same. No one feels ashamed to talk about *** anymore. Rather, they love to discuss these hot topics! Anyway, the point is that everything on the internet seems extremely polluted to me. Not just on the internet, everywhere else too. In the novels, newspapers, magazines, on the street, on television shows, in the movies. Almost everywhere.

The question is, How should we save ourselves from these traps of Shaytaan? He makes it look all pleasing and okay to do. No big deal. Everyone does it, Why don’t you? Just do it. Go on. It’s okay….. And, he goes on and on….whispering softly and constantly, a little more each day.

You see, anyone who is weak in faith will easily slip away, will easily be deluded. Not just those weak in faith, it doesn’t take long for anyone who is strong too.

Okay. Perhaps, I ranted a lot. But, I’m not done yet, got a lot more to say, inshaAllah. But, will spare you for now, dear reader.

Lastly, to blurt out the truth, I’m intimidated by this new face of the world. I’m not just afraid for my soul, but also for the souls of my brothers and sisters in Islam and even other people of other faiths.

I pray to Allah ‘azza wa jal to purify our souls from these impurities and protect us from the evil traps of Shaytaan. Ameen.