The Worldly and Spiritual Menaces of Surfing the Net Thoughtlessly

The Worldly and Spiritual Menaces of Surfing the Net Thoughtlessly

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: «مَنْ قَعَدَ مَقْعَدًا لَمْ يَذْكُرِ اللَّهَ فِيهِ كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ اللَّهِ تِرَةٌ، وَمَنْ اضْطَجَعَ مَضْجَعًا، لَا يَذْكُرُ اللَّهَ فِيهِ كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ اللَّهِ تِرَةٌ

Abu Hurayrah (Radi Allahu anhu) reported :The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone sits at a place where he does not remember Allah, deprivation will descend on him from Allah; and if he lies at a place where he does not remember Allah, deprivation will descend on him from Allah.[1]

Benefits:

• This hadith serves as a warning against spending long periods of time heedlessly about Allah. Some scholars have added it in their books under chapter headings such as; “The punishment for being heedless about Allah.”, The manners for sitting down in a gathering” ,and  “Regularly remembering Allah”.

• This narration establishes that it’s disliked to be neglectful about Allah; and to be constantly mindful of Allah is a recommended deed. This includes sitting, standing, walking, and laying down.[2]

• This hadith supports that it is recommended for a person to remember Allah while sitting and this includes the gatherings where Islam is being taught. Moreover, if a person sits in an online class for Islamic studies, then he isn’t among the heedless.

• Remembering Allah is done by either the heart or the tongue; and joining the thikr of Allah by both the heart and the tongue is the most superior. However, if a person was to choose one of these then remembering Allah by the heart is better.[3]

• Leaving off the remembrances of Allah should be done when relieving oneself, having relations and while listening the sermon on Friday.[4]

• Neglectfulness of Allah attracts Satan and makes Allah angry.

• Heedlessness of Allah causes a person’s heart to become full of worry, stress and anxiety, thus being depressed. This is similar to how we find people who are constantly on social media for hours and hours at time. When they log off of those accounts, they are often anxious. Reason being, they were not only heedless about their lord, but also about real life. Hence, they are behind in real time situations with a distance from Allah equal to the time wasted.

• Thoughtlessness of Allah causes the servant to be detached from Allah, and thus fall into sins. To illustrate this when a person sits on the internet day in and day out, he’s likely to end up sinning while logged in to social media. In fact, some miss prayers in their fixed timings, while others are led to indecent pop ups, reels or feeds. Thus, earning sin after sin with their eyes, and adding stains to their heart.

• Negligence of Allah and His Messenger weakens a person’s relationship with Allah bit by bit while he doesn’t even feel it.

• When a person abandons the thikr of Allah he falls into the traps of Satan. This takes place when by person wasting time on Snapchat, TIKTOK, and Instagram without doing anything beneficial or performing any acts of obedience. Just imagine that some people can spend an average of 8-10hours daily on those accounts. Consequently, in a period of 3 days that would total 24 hours in the World Wide Web away from reality.

• Aisha (radhi Allahu anha) said: “There isn’t any hour that passes by the servant wherein he didn’t remember Allah except that on the Day of Judgement he will regret it.[5]

• Some of the Salaf once said: Every hour of a man’s life will be displayed to him on the Day of Judgment. He will criticize himself excessively for every moment he didn’t remember Allah therein.[6]

• Ibn Al-Qayyim said: The extent of which a person is neglectful about Allah is the same extent to which he is distant from Him”[7] The words are serious! The easiest way to understand them is by looking at oneself and the amount of time he’s engaged in activities, and isn’t thinking about Allah. For instance, if he’s in cyberspace and isn’t involved in any form of thikr for that period then that period would measure how far he’s away from Allah. Imagine hours in day added by weeks, then add that with months and in the end, it could total weeks lost.

It’s not unbelievable that some people sit in front of a computer surfing the net, or from their phones for hours a day and when we add all that up at the end of year it comes out at about 25% of their time while awake. The minute we calculate that figure along with the required sleep a person needs the figure is even higher.

• Mu’ath ibn Jabal said: “The only thing the people in Paradise sigh over are the hours that passed them by while they weren’t remembering Allah.”[8]

• A person who spends larges amount of time inattentive about Allah and His Messenger eventually becomes dull-witted and apathetic. This similar to how we find people whose attention span and ability to concentrate have decreased due to the large amount time they are engaged in only watching short clips on the web.

To curb some of these illnesses we need to first remember that we are accountable for our time and how we use it. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Man’s feet will not move on the Day of Judgement until he is asked about his life and how he spent it…”[9] Therefore, we must try and utilize the time we have to our advantage. Having time to strive for our goals is a blessing in itself. In fact, the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “There are two blessings that many people are deceived into losing: health and free time.”[10].

1-Prioritizing things in your life and set goals to reach them is an approach that can help keep you focused.

2-Saying the following dua before logging on to the internet can help restrict some of the perils of social media, but this act shouldn’t be taken as a Sunnah. Nonetheless, the wording and the situation are suitable.

اللَّهُمَّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أَضِلَّ، أَوْ أُضَلَّ، أَوْ أَزِلَّ، أَوْ أُزَلَّ، أَوْ أَظْلِمَ، أَوْ أُظْلَمَ، أَوْ أَجْهَلَ، أَوْ

يُجْهَلَ عَلَيَّ

“Oh Allah,I seek refuge in You that I misguide others, or that I am misguided by other, that I cause others to err and that others cause me to err, that I oppress others or that others oppress me , or that I behave foolishly or that I encounter the foolishness of others.” [11]

3-Set time limits with alarms for the amount time you want to be on the net.

4-Remove certain apps from your phone, while keeping them on your computer.

5-Track the time you spend on social media. There are apps that do this available and some are even built in on the devices.

6-Try and avoid surfing the net right before bedtime, or right after waking up.

7-Try and track your actions of worship daily in a journal. Make a note in an effort to improve daily by doing deeds you didn’t do the previous day and making sure that regularly practiced ones which are easy are done daily. Ibn Mas’ood (Radi Allah anhu) said: “The thing I regretted the most is the sunset of a day in which I didn’t do extra deeds therein compared to the previous day.”[12]

8-Maintain the daily thikr and supplications right after Fajr and after Asr.

9-Select a few Islamic website to learn from and visit them each time you log in or before you log off.

10-Before sleeping read Al-Mulk, or Al-Kafaroon.

Prepared by the one in need of the Most Merciful Mercy

Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Battle

Doha, Qatar 1443H©

[1] Sunan Abi Dawud 4856/ Graded Hasan Sahih by Al-Albani

[2] تطريز رياض الصالحين , vol 1pg 502

[3] Explanation Riyadus Salahieen vol 5/1735 , Imam Al-Uthaymeen

[4] ibid

[5] و الحكم , by Imam Ibn Rajab pg,338 ,checked by Sh Aranut, under the hadith , 15

[6] جامع العلوم و الحكم , by Imam Ibn Rajab pg,338 ,checked by Sh Aranut, under the hadith , 15

[7] الوابل الصيب من الكلم الطيب (59)

[8] Ibid

[9] At-tirmithi  2417 graded as being hasan sahih by imam at-tirmithi

[10] Sahih Al-Bukhari 6412

[11] Abu Dawud 4/325, at-Tirmithi 5/490 graded as being Sahih by Imam Al-Albani.

[12] مفتاح الافكار للتأهب لدرار القرار, (332) by Sh. Abdul Aziz As-Sulayman