Selfies and Social Media

When a supervisor says “I am watching you”, it is said in a threatening manner. Allah regularly reminds us in the Qur’an that He is the All-Seeing in a loving, merciful and compassionate manner. I was pondering over this, and social media came to mind.

In our day and age, technology is considered the way forward and an obsession in our modern era. Whether young or old, you would be hard-pressed to find someone without a handheld device. Though a phone was designed to call and text, nowadays, the camera is a greater selling point. That is how Shaytaan has made common the sin of taking pictures of living beings.

Selfies which were once unheard of, have become very common now. It made me wonder, why do people do it? Why do people who would once upon a time, cycle to simply unwind, now cycle and video their journey? Or keep a log of their activities on social media, which they would have previously kept to themselves? Often it is an act of ostentation or vanity. Our concern lies with impressing people online, thus we share private aspects of our lives to draw attention. But in reality, only a few people may notice, some may be jealous and most people do not care.

In contrast, Allah cares about what we do, He is the All-Seeing. Even when our cameras are off, His are still on. He is watching even when no-one else can. Technology can fail us. At times the camera dies whilst a person may think it is still on and recording. Allah never fails to watch and record us.

Therefore, if you desire to show someone, show Allah. Want to impress someone? Impress Allah. If you impress people on social media you may just get a few likes, comments and shares and that is all. However, if you impress Allah He will grant you Jannah, a reward far greater than we can possibly imagine. A seeker will always find what he seeks. Seek people, you will never be able to acquire their pleasure. Seek Allah and you will acquire Him, via His mercy in this life and His honorable presence in the afterlife.

May Allah rid our hearts of ostentation, vanity and all such evil qualities, Aameen.

— Shaykh Dawood Seedat حفظه الله

Above is an extract from Shaykh’s talk on 25/09/17 in Masjid-ut-Taqwa, Pietermaritzburg. To listen to the full talk, please click here.

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