There are many people who enjoy
watching nude and indecent films
and those images
hover before their eyes constantly
and this is how their eyes become impure.
When the eyes become impure,
you’re unable to visualise God’s name.
The impurity of your eyes is very detrimental.
Why Must Our Eyes Remain Pure?
I have a younger brother who lives in Pakistan.
Eid season in Karachi, Pakistan would amass a sizeable crowd.
There was a guy
who owned a newspaper stand
and during the month of Ramadan,
he would sell postcards of
sensual images of celebrities and Bollywood actresses.
Now, Imran developed an appetite for going to that stand.
He would fill his appetite by ogling at those images.
I caught him standing there one day
and slapped him hard, twice.
I said, ‘What the heck are you doing?’
I took him to the corner and said, ‘Why do you come here every day?’
He said, ‘I don’t know what to do.
I feel the urge to come here and look at them’.
I said, ‘Alright, when you go there…’
Now, I didn’t stop him.
I said, ‘Go there every day
and when you’re there, just recite ‘Ya Rasool Allah’
and the Lord’s name repeatedly.
Keep looking at the images while you’re taking the Lord’s name’.
He didn’t believe me.
He thought that his elder brother is being sarcastic or taunting him.
I said, ‘I’m not taunting you at all.
Look at them as much as you like,
but say the Lord’s name at the same time’.
So he would go to the stand and look at those images
and recite the Lord’s name at the same time
and when he would take the Lord’s name, his eyes would lower
because he would feel ashamed.
Then, he stopped altogether.
When the Lord’s name was uttered by the tongue,
it cleansed the eyes and the tongue of that lustful impurity.
Your eyes too become subjected to (esoteric) illness.
What does this mean?
There are many people who like looking at nude photos.
Now, God has placed a lot of attraction in our eyes
and the Qur'an has mentioned this:
‘we have created many paths that lead to us,
including the path of two eyes’.
But how would the average person understand the meaning behind
‘the path of two eyes that leads to God’?
The meaning is that the eyes have magnetism.
If the eyes look at the name of God continually,
they pull God’s name
and it becomes absorbed by the eyes.
Once God’s name is absorbed by the eyes,
HDE Gohar Shahi explains that then you must visualise God’s name on your heart.
So, since the eyes have such powerful magnetism,
if you look at nude photos,
those photos will be absorbed into your eyes.
those images will hover before your eyes constantly.
Right, so many people enjoy watching nude and indecent films
and those scenes continually hover in their minds.
This is how their eyes become impure.
When your eyes become impure,
you are unable to visualise God's name.
The impurity of the eyes is a very dangerous thing.
In order to avoid this,
you should refrain from watching nude movies
and looking at nude photos.
I mean, it’s your choice. You can do what you like.
However, this is my word of advice.
In order to protect your eyes,
to protect your heart and your faith,
refrain from looking at nude and dirty images.
It’s dirty, isn’t it?
You look at it and it becomes absorbed in your eyes
and you’ll keep having flashbacks.
Many people are unable to visualise God's name
due to this impurity in their eyes.
You will only be able to visualise the name of God when you rid yourself of this impurity.
Now, this impurity is so dangerous
that you’re incapable of visualising God’s name,
so it becomes a hindrance on your path to God,
doesn’t it?
It has become a hindrance on your path to God.
Now that it has become an obstacle in your path to God,
and you’re in search of God,
so stop doing all such things that become a hurdle between you and God.
So, looking at dirty and nude images
and watching dirty movies,
regardless of what the religion says, that it’s a sin, that’s separate.
In spirituality, it's even more detrimental
because now your eyes cannot witness the divine splendour.
This is a hindrance.
Therefore, spirituality teaches you
to protect your ears, your eyes, and your tongue.
Do not say anything indecent.
If people are having an indecent conversation, do not listen to it.
Leave that place.
If you see a woman approaching, lower your gaze.
That woman who is approaching may not be your relative,
but she is someone else’s sister or mother.
You must believe in your heart
that every single woman
should be as respectable to you as your own sister,
daughter and mother.
When this thought is established in your heart,
that every woman is as respectable as your mother and sister,
that is when your heart shall be broadened.
Now, if you think that
‘only my mother, my sister, my wife and my daughter
are respectable and all other women in the world
are for you to ogle at’,
well that is not what a Sufi does.
A Sufi is honest.
Every woman is the same in his eyes.
He looks at every woman like he would his own mother,
his own daughter and his own sister.
He respects every woman as he would his own mother.
That’s the creed of a Sufi.