Mufti Menk – Dealing with Difficulty #25 Social Media Issues
AI: Summary ©
The negative impact of social media on people's views and values is discussed, including the negative impact on people's health and safety. The speaker emphasizes the importance of disciplined use of social media to protect oneself and finding one's own value to determine if it is acceptable or not. The speaker also warns against compromise and the use of social media to achieve goals, and warns against discussing negative comments on social media as a way to gain instant growth.
AI: Summary ©
My brothers and sisters,
don't you agree that social media has become
an issue?
Everyone
is on social media, be it WhatsApp,
Telegram
or Instagram, TikTok,
Facebook,
Twitter,
whatever it may be. There are so many
platforms that some of those names
we don't
know. My brothers and sisters, people sometimes go
on to social media in order to find
validation.
People want likes. They want follows.
They want to be famous.
They want to make money sometimes
because they've heard that you can make money.
And therefore,
they end up doing silly things
that are at times
displeasing to Allah
or compromising their own morals and values
in order to achieve that.
If you are going to do something silly
in order to get a like or 2,
you might get more than just 1 or
2 likes, but
it will come
at a price
really long term. It's not going to go
down well.
Similarly
if you're doing something that is unacceptable
in terms of
what Allah has ordained as a believer, Obviously,
those who don't believe,
perhaps this wouldn't help them. But if you're
a believer,
what has Allah taught? He's taught you to
be disciplined, to hold high morals and values
and that discipline
would actually bring about contentment
and happiness
and so much
more.
If you want to be content and happy,
you need to be disciplined. That discipline
will bring about
the fulfillment
of goodness that
even if you're using social media,
which is not a bad thing on its
own, it's the way we use it. A
lot of people have learned so much from
the different platforms.
Nonetheless, when you find something negative, you need
to know how to interact with it. You
need to know how to keep scrolling. Don't
waste your time with it.
Stop at that which you believe is beneficial.
The minute
it meanders
into territory that is no longer beneficial, keep
rolling. Keep rolling.
And there you will be able to benefit
and protect yourself. But
on the flip side of it, like I
was saying,
if we're going to
just have fun and say this is just
banter,
what type of banter? Like I say, it
comes at a price
because what happens is
we always speak about connecting with Allah.
Connecting with Allah.
When you're disconnected from Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
you're on your
own. So it might seem like there are
thousands of people with you, but you're actually
on your own
because you've
disconnected from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Now what
happens?
Now you're encouraged to do even more
silly
things, and then it doesn't stop there. You
start living
for people no longer for Allah.
So my life rotates around
me showing people everything.
Whatever they wanna see, anything that makes them
happy. And you know what? For as long
as they give me,
they call it gifts or money, for as
long as I'm earning,
I'm happy
because that's my source of income.
What type of income is that? Is it
filled with blessing?
Number 1, you disconnected
yourself from Allah in order to have
an income.
We're talking about believers.
Number 2
is
the income came in through something
that you believe in your own belief structure,
that it's immoral
and it's not of the best of values
or unacceptable in terms of values and morals.
How then
would you think the future is going to
pan out?
May Allah Almighty protect us. This is why
we say social media
is not easy to navigate, but
it's not harmful on its own. It's how
you use it that would determine
whether
it is acceptable or not in terms of
its use.
Like I just said, many people have learned
so much. In fact, there is a lot
out there to learn, so much to see,
and it's good. You can either use it
in a beneficial way, benefit yourself, or you
can benefit others,
or there is no benefit and no harm.
That's okay still.
But the moment it crosses the threshold and
starts harming,
it's either going to harm you
and
the people who follow you. Perhaps
you start showing them things, they start following
what you're doing
Or you see what they do and
you begin to do what they're doing. It's
no longer about Allah. It's about them. It's
about us. It's about the community I've built
of people I'd never meet in real life.
Some of them I may, but it's people
I don't even know. I'm trying to impress.
And the people I live with, they mean
nothing.
So it becomes so difficult
because
there we are. We're out there. And what
we're doing is we're on social media out
for the likes and the follows and everything
else. Let's be careful.
You don't need to be known.
You don't need to be a famous person.
Trust me, it comes at a price.
Yes. If Allah has allowed and you've worked
in a good way to whatever it may
be, it may be your business.
It may
be faith based.
It may be something you're teaching worldly.
It may be for as long as it's
something permissible. It may be a brand you
have. It may be something you're showcasing. It
may be your artwork.
It may whatever it may be for as
long as it's something permissible.
Insha Allah
Allah will allow you to grow.
Yes. You work hard. You wanted to get
out there. Insha Allah it will. But don't
compromise
your link with Allah to achieve that. That's
all I'm saying. That if we are going
to compromise our link with Allah, we failed
in our use of social media. It will
be bearing witness against us on the day
of judgment. And just like there would be
millions of people following a good example,
There would also be millions of people following
a terrible example.
So if you are to say something positive
and people followed you, it's going to bear
witness for you. And if you're going to
say something negative and people follow you,
then it's going to bear witness against you
on that day.
Therefore, be careful.
People sometimes say things that are so nasty.
The comment section
on a lot of social media platforms
is hilarious but it's sad at the same
time because people who are generally supposed to
be believers
worried about and concerned about the day of
judgment.
They don't even think what they're saying,
what they're talking about. You haven't ever met
this person. You haven't given them a chance
to clarify. You don't even know what's going
on. And here you are with the biggest
and dirtiest and filthiest comments that are not
actually you.
So it's not you, but you didn't think
about it. You know why? You disconnected, unplug
from Allah
before you plugged in
with Shaitan
and you didn't think.
So you just started commenting, saying one thing
after that. No matter how pious you think
you are, that's not acceptable. So let's consider
this.
Let us in these blessed days think about
what we type and what we say online.
It's very dangerous.
It's it's something that a single word would
actually cause the tipping of our scales either
this way or that way. The hadith says
whoever believes in Allah and the last day
should only utter that which is beneficial
or remain silent. If you really believe that
there is a day of reckoning,
you wouldn't utter a word
that is going to be held against you.
Because when the scale is put in, you
just need one more word to tip it.
What if that word was that negative word?
I'd rather it be the positive word. Remain
silent or say something good.
Similarly, if you're going to talk about someone
online,
and these are some of the difficulties we
face with social media,
if you say something negative,
you don't know
what might happen as a result of that.
Sometimes the person may see it. They may
not see it. So many others might say
things
and a whole war has happened behind the
back of a person who is online or
maybe sometimes they may know about it.
The evil effect of that could be devastating.
So don't do that. Let's be very responsible
when we use social media
and understand it's not all about the likes
and the follows. It's not all about making
money if it is compromising your values, your
morals, and your connection with Allah. If it
is connected with Allah,
whatever you're trying to do will always succeed
even if it is a worldly thing. Like
I said, your business, your talent, whatever it
may be, may Allah bless you and grant
you beautiful growth.