“To
be, or not to be, that is the question”:- William Shakespeare
Have
you ever wish that you had super powers when you were small? Powers that can
make you invincible and popular amongst your friends. I remember the movie,
‘Sabrina, the teenage witch’, which was a story about a young girl who
inherited knowledge of witchcraft and sorcery powers from her family. She could
perform all kind of spells and potions, for all occasion. I thought it was
absolutely fab!
Of
course, I was young then so I didn’t
know any better. I just thought it was cool to have such abilities especially
to get back at my so called enemies. Now that I am older and hopefully wise
(ahem!), I realised that what I coveted for in the past is actually forbidden
in Islam. It’s a big NO NO.
Now,
we have stories like Harry Potter, Twillight and other ‘make-believe’ tales. These
stories are called ‘make-believe’ because it is an untrue tale concocted by
persons, with the intention to make people believe. For example, Harry Potter
is a fictional story about a young orphaned boy who happens to be a wizard. He
then goes to school of wizardry where he learns to conjure up spells and
control his powers. In the real world, there is no such thing as inherited
powers. Both witchcraft and sorcery are knowledge that was acquired by men
since the olden days.
Movie
like Harry Potter, which actually originated from a children’s book, as
innocent as it seems, has the danger of influencing and misleading our kids
into thinking witchcraft and sorcery is allowed, if we, as parents do not
educate our children correctly. Black magic was originally taught by 2 angels,
Harut and Marut.
“They
followed what the evil ones gave out (falsely) against the power of Solomon:
the blasphemers Were, not Solomon, but the evil ones, teaching men Magic, and
such things as came down at babylon to the angels Harut and Marut.But neither
of these taught anyone (Such things) without saying: "We are only for
trial; so do not blaspheme."
Surah
Al Baqarah 2:102
Twillight
on the other hand is about a vampire i.e. living dead being, who fell in love
with a human. The whole story is quite far-fetched, if you think about it actually
but there are die-hard fans amongst the youngster and adult alike. They seemed
to have fallen for the handsome vampire character named ‘Edward’. Edward and
his family, is eternally dammed by God and is destined to abide in Hell. The
producers had somewhat made selling your soul to the devil as romantic!
I
don’t mean to be a party spoiler or wet blanket here but I am merely
highlighting the facts. Some might argue that these stories are harmless but
there is nothing harmless about being eternally dammed or ending up in Hell. As
Muslim, we do believe in Hereafter, in fact, it is one of the pillars of eaman.
Where we end up in Hereafter, whether it’s Paradise or Hell, very much boils
down to how live our lives on earth. Just to recap, the pillars of eaman are…
Belief in the angels;
Belief in the revealed books;
Belief in the commissioned Messengers (peace be upon
them).
Belief in the resurrection and the events of Qiyamah.
Belief in the predestination by Allah of all things,
both the (seemingly) good and the (seemingly) bad.
We
have to be very careful of these types of stories as it can easily influence
our kids. Even as adults, some of us get taken in and fall prey to the
deception hence, it is easier to mislead the children. Black magic, spells,
potion or falling in love with the eternally dammed, is not exactly in line
with Islam. There is nothing great or cool about dabbling in black magic.
Believing in a power or person greater than God Al Mighty is shirk. There’s
major shirk, which is clearly identifiable and there is also minor shirk, which
most of the time, is carefully camouflaged.
"Verily God forgives
not setting up partners in worship with Him. But He forgives whom He pleases,
sins other than that (shirk)"
The
Holy Qur'an, Chapter 4, Verse 116
"Verily whosoever sets
up partners in worship with God, then God Has forbidden paradise for him and
the fire will be his abode"
The
Holy Qur'an, Chapter 5, Verse 72
Prophet
SAW said “Avoid the seven deadly sins:
shirk, black magic, killing someone without just cause, eating an orphan’s
property, consuming riba, running away from the battlefield and accusing chaste
women of fornication.”
(Related
by al-Bukhari dan Muslim)
We,
as parents, are responsible for our children. They are given to us on trust so
we have to make sure that we are giving the correct education. How our children
will turn out is entirely depending on the exposure and education that we give
them. On Judgment day, we will definitely be questioned with regard to our responsibilities
towards our children.
One
thing we must always remember is that, satan had, after all sworn to mislead us
till the end of time.
16 . He said: "Because
thou hast thrown me out of the way, lo! I will lie in wait for them on thy
straight way:
17 . "Then will I assault
them from before them and behind them, from their right and their left: Nor
wilt thou find, in most of them, gratitude (for thy mercies)."
Surah Al-Araf 7:16-17
62. “He said: "Seest Thou? this is the
one whom Thou hast honoured above me! If Thou wilt but respite me to the Day of
Judgment, I will surely bring his descendants under my sway - all but a
few!"
63 . ((Allah))
said: "Go thy way; if any of them follow thee, verily Hell will be the
recompense of you (all)- an ample recompense.
64 . "Lead
to destruction those whom thou canst among them, with thy (seductive) voice;
make assaults on them with thy cavalry and thy infantry; mutually share with
them wealth and children; and make promises to them." But Satan promises
them nothing but deceit.
Surah Al-Isra’ 17:62-64
Even
as adult, we also often fall prey to the deception satan. I know I have in the
past. The best thing was, I didn’t even realise it until a kind hearted soul pointed
it out to me. I used to pore over women and girly magazine and without fail, I
would deliberate over the horoscope section. I’m sure you are familiar with the zodiac
column, where they tell you whether you
will be lucky today or happy or even when you will be meeting your Mr. Right, based
on astrology readings. Little did I realise that my action was akin to
committing shirk.
No
one has the ability to predict the future. Only Allah SWT knows best and He
knows what is best for us. If we believe, even a tiny fragment, of the prediction
that we read in the horoscope column, then we are believing in the astrologer
rather than Qada and Qadr determined by Allah SWT. Reading the prediction of
our future in that column is similar to us seeing a fortune teller.
“106. "'Nor
call on any, other than Allah.- Such will neither profit thee nor hurt thee: if
thou dost, behold! thou shalt certainly be of those who do wrong.'"
107 . If Allah do touch thee
with hurt, there is none can remove it but He: if He do design some benefit for
thee, there is none can keep back His favour: He causeth it to reach whomsoever
of His servants He pleaseth.And He is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Surah Yunus 110:106-107
SubhanAllah! The last thing I want to do is commit shirk. Shirk is
the only sin God Al Mighty will not forgive.
“Allah
forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth
anything else, to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah is to devise
a sin Most heinous indeed.”
Surah
An-Nisaa 4:48
“Allah
forgiveth not (The sin of) joining other gods with Him; but He forgiveth whom
He pleaseth other sins than this: one who joins other gods with Allah, Hath
strayed far, far away (from the right).’
Surah
An-Nisaa 4:116
The Prophet SWT, said that anyone who learns astrology has learn some magic. [Abu Daawood]
This
kind hearted soul even told me that if we visit or consult an astrologer or a
fortune teller, then our prayers will not be accepted for 40 days. O.M.G.!!!!
What if I die in that state? Will I then die a Muslim? Brrr…..the very thought
gives me the shivers…
Well,
the moral of the story here is that, we need to be very careful with what we
see and read. We have to be particularly careful when it comes to our children.
Sometimes, a seemingly innocent children’s story can cause the most damage. We must
not take anything for granted….
No comments:
Post a Comment