Question arises;
What do you do when you are surrounded by filth?
What do you do when you are living in a time where indecency has become the norm?
Wherever you look on the Internet,
on social media, on TV, on the billboards, even on the radio,
your ears and eyes are exposed to indecency.
And you find that some people have lost all sense of shame.
What do we do in that situation?
We can still be pure
even in this indecent time, we still can protect our chastity.
Allah (swt) created every single one of us as
pure, decent, and with a sense of innocence about us.
And then He ingrained within us the desire to protect that purity and innocence
as we live our life journey towards Him (swt).
not only that, He revealed to us this beautiful,
amazing deen of Islam, this religion that provides us a lifestyle
that would protect and preserve that purity that is inside of us all.
But the question arises, what do you do when you are surrounded by filth?
What do you do when you are living in a time where indecency has become the norm?
Wherever you look on the Internet,
on social media, on TV, on the billboards, even on the radio, your ears and eyes are
exposed to indecency, and you find that some people have lost all sense of shame.
What do we do in that situation?
You see, the Prophet (pbuh),
he actually foretold that there will come
a time where we will be surrounded by indecency in the authentic Hadith.
He said, I have not left after me any tribulation, more dangerous,
more harmful for men in particular, than the temptation of women.
And though temptation exists on both sides,
women having desire for men and men for women,
here the Prophet (pbuh) was telling us that
one of the biggest challenges you will face in our life
as youngsters and as mature adults is the need to protect our chastity and
all the temptations and the fitna / trails, and that will come our way will represent
one of the greatest struggles that we will face in our life.
May Allah (swt) grant us success in this struggle -Allahuma Ameen.
And he was also teaching us that not only am I going to tell you
that you're going to face this difficulty,
but we are going to provide you with guidance and a lifestyle
that would allow you to navigate these difficult, turbulent waters.
That is why in the Quran
and in the teachings of the prophet (pbuh), we find practical advice
on what we can do to try to protect our purity and to safeguard our chastity.
Let us look at, for example, the story of Yusuf (a.s),
a story familiar to us all, in his life, this great Prophet of Allah.
He went through four trials and tribulations.
The first of them was a trial of jealousy that his own brothers hated upon him
and were jealous of him, and they conspired against him.
And then the next trial came, which was a trial of desire and temptation,
because when he was made into a slave, the wife of his master
tried to seduce him, and she was a rich and famous and powerful woman.
And then the third trial in his life was a trial of oppression,
because he refused that lady and he defended his honor.
He was put into prison unjustly.
And so he became a victim of oppression.
Another great trial.
And then the fourth trial was when he was exonerated
and then given the position of Al Aziz, a senior position in Egypt.
Now, he had the trial of power and authority,
a trial that corrupts many people.
But it's a second trial that we find
that Allah (swt), through his test, will give us some guidance.
Allah began that's part of the story by saying,
Allah says when he reached a SHUDD,
which many scholars say refers to a state of maturity
just after he hits puberty, maybe as a teenager or in his early 20s,
that was the time that Allah will test him with the test of temptation.
That's interesting, because when you're older, you don't have as much desire.
When you are older, the craving to indulge in this temptation is not as strong.
But you speak to any youngster at College or University,
they will tell you it is like being at war with your desires.
So Allah chose the most difficult time.
But before He put him in the test,
we gifted him two things, number one, wisdom, and number two, knowledge.
As if to say it was through education and being grounded in the Deen of Allah
that he was going to succeed in this trial and this test.
And then Allah began
his difficulty by saying that there was a lady, she tried to seduce him.
And what she did is she trapped him inside the house by locking all the doors.
And then she began to be flirtatious with him.
Hey, Tahlak, come to me.
Now, if you just pause and think about this,
how difficult this must have been for Yousf (a.s);
Number one, he's a young man.
Number two, he is a slave of this lady.
And he's used to saying, yes, because that is what a slave does.
Listens and obeys
Number three, he has no family in Egypt
because he was kidnapped and taken from Palestine,
where his father and his family were.
And now he lives in Egypt, a stranger or foreigner.
Number four, the lady who is trying to seduce him
is from the rich and famous
people that would sell anything to be with this lady.
This is the type of woman that is now chasing after him.
And number five, it seems as though no one can find out about this
because she has locked all the doors and trapped him inside.
Despite the mounting pressure, unbelievable pressure,
What does Yusuf (a.s) say to this lady in that precarious situation?
He says, Allah, .... Allah, I seek refuge with you.
That is amazing, that in the most tempting situation,
the first thing that comes to his mind is, who Allah?
He doesn't even think about his own reputation.
He doesn't say, you know what,
what will people say if they find out I was being inappropriate with this woman?
He doesn't say, you know what,
if my father were to find out, no, his instinct is to think about who Allah,
And not only that, he pleads to Allah
is like saying Audhubillah, Allah, I seek refuge in You from this temptation.
And then when she does not stop,
as she continues to draw closer to him, what does he do?
He makes a run for it and he runs towards a door
even though he knows that that door is locked.
And you might be thinking that didn't make sense.
Why would he run towards the door he knows it's locked?
Because he was showing us that Allah wants to see you try
that even though it seems like all the doors in your life are locked,
there's no way out of this haram / illegitimate relationship that you may be in.
May Allah forgive you and forgive me, that Allah wants to see you try.
Didn't Yusuf (a.s) try?
Wasn't his test harder? Yes, it was.
Why don't you try?
But what happened when he ran towards the door even though it was locked?
It just so happened.
Coincidentally, it seems that at that same time,
the husband of this woman was coming back
and he arrived at the door at the exact time
that Yusuf (a.s) arrived at the door.
And he's the one who opened the door.
And then what happens is that he's out of that situation
because now the husband has arrived and her plan has been spoiled.
And that teaches us another lesson,
which is that when you try, Allah will open the door for you.
As Allah says, whoever is mindful of Allah, He will make a way out for you.
So that means none of us should think
we're living in a time wherein this is all around us, we can't get away from it.
Is there at work, is there on the TV, what should I do?
I just resign myself to the fact that
this is just going to be part of my life and indulgent.
No, I should think to myself, no.
Even in this dark time, we can still be pure.
Even in this indecent time, we still can protect our chastity.
May Allah grant us understanding and protect us all.
If we go back to the hadith of the Prophet (pbuh), where he said,
“I have not left behind me any fitnah (temptation) more harmful to men than women.”
One of the important takeaways that we can get from that Hadith is
that we should always be cautious and in fact suspicious of our intentions,
when we are interacting with the opposite gender.
We should never ever think, you know what?
There's no big deal.
There's no harm in this.
I can speak to this lady and there's nothing that will come as a consequence.
We could even be friends, acquaintances.
That is a trick of Shaytan /satan
because any man who is real with themselves would know that
the only reason I would want to have a relationship with the opposite genders
because there's a chance that it may lead to Zina /unlawful sexual intercourse.
Let us be honest with ourselves and on top of that, the Prophet (pbuh) said,
“No man is alone with a woman but the Shaytan / devil is the third one present.'”
And the interesting thing, and one of the things
we've got from the 'Me Too Movement'
is that people recognize that this is actually a very sensitive,
volatile situation where a man and woman are alone even in the workplace.
Because even if the man is not being inappropriate with a woman,
it could be that satan comes to the woman and says,
why don't you falsely accuse him of something,
get him in trouble, and you could get something out of that as well.
There are many cases in which innocent men
have been falsely accused by women
and there are many cases where men have been guilty of
being inappropriate with women in the workplace.
And so people including non-Muslims are talking about what should we do?
And then this idea of having a chaperone
where as a pharmacist or as a doctor, if you were to see a female patient,
you should bring in a third party, Subhanallah, as if this is something new.
But we already know from the teachings of Islam
that when a man or woman alone, you should take precautions.
So people are coming round to this idea
that there should be some regulation, perhaps some segregation
when it comes to interaction because it can lead to negative consequences.
May Allah grant us understanding.
So what be cautious of your own intentions,
And if you need to remove yourself from a situation
because you feel temptation, then do exactly what Yusuf (a.s) did.
The second piece of advice, where is Istighfar in our life?
How many of us are regularly saying Astaghfirullah /seeking forgiveness from Allah
such a simple act, our Prophet (pbuh), he said, wallahi / I swear by Allah
I make "istighfar" say
"Astaghfirullah wa atubu ilaih"/ I seek the forgiveness of Allah, and I repent unto Him
more than 70 times a day,
a person who has been forgiven all of his shortcomings in the past and future
saying, I do that 70 times a day, what then about us?
What is stopping us when we see something
Haram or we think about something Haram or we hear something Haram
to say Astaghfirullah wa atubu ilaih
and when we do know that Allah will forgive you,
know that and Subhanallah, even if you haven't done anything wrong.
But you're in the habit of saying,
Astaghfirullah, you're getting a reward for making dhikr.
You will never lose. Either you've done a sin and you need expiation
or you say it and you gain a reward because it is dhikr.
So my brothers and sisters, throughout your day,
ever you slip, say Astaghfirullah,
you will find that the Shaitan will become annoyed by you.
Every time I show this person something Haram,
he says Astaghfirullah, Allah is pleased with him.
Maybe I should leave this and go to something else.
May Allah protect our chastity, keep us pure and innocent,
and allow us to be free from the sins we have committed in the past
and have a future of piety and mindfulness of Allah (swt).