Solution

CHAPTER FIVE

THE SOLUTION

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP OUR CHILDREN DEVELOP?

Keep the TV turned off as much as possible. One author recommended avoiding TV as much as possible for the first 12 years of the child’s life. It helps to cover the TV with a cloth or store it away in a closed cabinet. Out of sight really helps the child keep TV out of mind. Do not under any circumstance let your child have a TV in the bedroom. Remember that what we do serves as a role model for our children. We can’t really ask our children to stop watching TV if we keep watching it, for that will eventually lead to power struggles. When the TV is on, then try to neutralise its damage. Select the programs carefully and watch TV with your child so you can talk about what you see. Keep a light on when the TV is going since minimise the effects of the reduced field of vision and provide a different light source for the eyes. Try to sit at least 4 feet from the TV and 18 inches from the computer screen. Plan to go outside (to the park etc.) after viewing TV. Eventually spend more time away from the TV and engage yourself and the children in other things. Allah willing a time will come that you will no longer have need for the TV and will be able to spend quality time with the members of the family.

The above is only because our Imaan (faith) is very weak, I do, however, strongly recommended to ‘GET IT OUT NOW!’ the sooner the better, destroy it before it destroys you!

Reading stories

Read a lot of books to your children (especially ones without lots of pictures) and tell your children lot of Islamic stories. Children love to hear stories about Islam. Bedtime and riding in a car provide good opportunities for telling stories. Telling stories helps to stimulate their internal picture making capabilities.

Pay attention

Pay close attention to your senses and those of your child. Our environment is noisy and over stimulating to the sense organs. What a child sees hears, smells, tastes, and touches are extremely important to their development. We need to surround our children with what is beautiful, what is good and what is true (Nasheeds, life of the Prophet and the companions). How a child experiences the world has a tremendous influence on how the child perceives the world as a teenager and adult.

Don’t leave your child like the animals do, look after them as they are a gift from Allah and you have a responsibility to look after there soul. Talk to them about school and what they did each day. What they learnt at mosque. When we don’t look after our child with love and affection, they disobey the parents and the parents decide to send them to an education institute (Darul-uloom) for few years and he will sort himself out, but guess what, it doesn’t work like that, these are the same scholars who lead the community and corrupt the deen. And we send the intelligent child to be educated as a professional Dr, Lawyer etc. we need professionals in our community but more importantly we need good Muslims with purified souls. 2 www.GardensOfSunnah.co.uk

A DREAM

A person narrates an incident he experienced;

“On the night of the 31st October 1990 when a general massacre of Muslims was underway in all directions – the buildings and properties of Muslims were ablaze and Muslim women were molested and disgraced. I slept after making Istikharah (seeking guidance from Allah). I saw a saint in my dream. I said to him: “Hadhrat! The Muslims are being massacred, their wealth and their properties are being burnt, their women are being raped, the Muslims are in difficulty, please show me an act which will deliver them from their difficulty.” The saint replied: “Remove the ‘umbrellas’ (aerials) from the roof tops. I request the Muslims to remove all television sets from their homes and shops immediately. Only in this lies our success and goodness. Repent from sins and seek forgiveness of Allah, The Exalted. Perform Salaah with congregation. Grow beards and make supplication for the Muslim Ummah.” (Attar)

Difficulty after death

This is an incident of two friends. One was living in Jeddah and the other in Riyadh. They were very intimate friends. Both were religiously conscious and pious. The family of the friend living in Riyadh insisted that he bring a television set home. On the insistence of the children and wife, he purchased a television set for the family. After a few days he passed away. His friend who resided in Jeddah saw his thrice in a dream, each time being punished. Each time he told his friend living in Jeddah:

“For Allah’s sake! Tell my family members to remove the television set from the house. Since the time of my burial I am being punished because of the television I had purchased. Those people are enjoying the scenes of immodesty while I am suffering punishment.” (Attar)

The friend living in Jeddah reached Riyadh by air and informed his friend’s family about the dream. He told them that he had seen the dream thrice. His friend’s family began crying. The eldest son stood up and, in a rage of anger, smashed the television set into bits and pieces. The friend living in Jeddah returned home. Once again he saw his friend in a dream. This time he was in a good state. There was a glitter on his face. He made the following supplication for his friend:

‘May Allah save you from calamities as you have saved me from this calamity’.

Special request

Respected brother/sister! The non-believers have entered our homes, our lives and are working very hard to destroy our Imaan, let us ask Allah to guide us in the straight path and leave the way of the non-believers and spend our time in the path of Allah and learning about the life of the Prophet and making preparations for the hear after!

Guide us in the straight path. The path of those whom You have favoured. Not of those who have earned Your anger and nor of those who have gone astray.1 Ameen!

1 Surah Fatiha; Surah No: 1. Verses: 5-7 3 www.GardensOfSunnah.co.uk

CONCLUSION

Our ultimate concern must be for our own hearts and the hearts of our children. We can live in a world where violence is not a norm but rather a rare outbreak that, like all things, passes; a world where our children are safe to go to school. The present condition of the media is at the root of much of what is wrong with our culture. Recent studies have clearly demonstrated the devastating effect that hours of the violent media is having on our society, not to mention the hidden harms that have yet to be discovered or disclosed. It is up to us as individuals and as a collective body to work towards changing the present condition and not sit inactively as spectators while the wearing away of the soul’s soil takes place before our very eyes.

For all the reasons stated in this book, television can never be passed as lawful on the basis of Shari’ah. The evils are too many, the harmful effects are disastrous, and the immorality is damaging to the moral structure of mankind. Islam can, therefore have nothing to do with such a destructive institution as television.

Muslims have a sacred duty and obligation unto Allah, and a sacred responsibility to their children, i.e. to stay away from the evils of television so as to gain the Pleasure of Allah; to be saved from the punishment of the Hereafter; and, to protect their children from the moral and spiritual destruction which ensues in the wake of television. Allah, in stating some of the noble qualities of the Believers, says in the Qur’an:

“And, when they hear laghw (futility and nonsense) they turn away from it, and, they say: For us, our deeds, and for you, your deeds. Peace be upon you, we do not follow the ignorant ones.”

And Allah says about the Believers,

“And those who do not give false evidence and when they pass by anything vain, pass on keeping their dignity.”2

2 Surah Al-Shuara; Surah No: 26; Verse: 72

The aforementioned quotations will suffice to show that amusement and entertainment are prohibited in Islam. The internet is no exception, it is worse then TV, it is open doors to the path of Shaytan.

Look on the bright side, less electric bills, no more repairs, save space in the house, no more batteries or finding the remote, saving time and saving money on TV licence. Subhan-Allah! Spend the money on Islamic literature and the time with your wife and your children!

The question is after reading the facts, what will you do? Will you still keep a TV or will you get rid of it? 4 www.GardensOfSunnah.co.uk

BIBLIOGHRAPHY

Attar, Moulana Muhammad Ilyas Qadri. “T.V. Ki Taba-Kariya”. (Destructive effects of T.V.) Karachi, Pakistan.

Buzzell, Keith. “The Children of Cyclops: The Influence of Television Viewing on the Developing Human Brain”. 1998 California: AWSNA.

Haque, Prof. Shah Faridul. “The Qur’an”; an English Translation from ‘Kanzul Iman’ the Urdu Translation by Imam Ahmed Raza Khan. Delhi, India.

Healy, Jane. Endangered Minds: “Why Children Don’t Think and What We Can Do About It”. 1990 New York: Simon and Schuster.

Ismail, Moulana Abdullah, (translated by); “The devastating effects of Television”. 1996 Azaadville, South Africa.

Johnson, Dr. Susan. “Strangers in Our Homes, TV and Our Children’s Minds”. 2001 California. Zaytuna Institute.

Lambat, Siraj. “Music Exposed”. 1998 Leicester. Time publications

Poplawski, Thomas. “Losing Our Senses”. Renewal: A journal for Waldorf Education, Vol. 7, No. 2, Fall 1998.

Postman, Neil. “Amusing Ourselves to Death”. 1986 Great Britain.

Raza, Shaykh Ahmed. “Ehkam-e-Shariat”. 1994 Delhi, India. Qadri Kitab Ghar, Bareli publication.

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