Enslaved by Technology!

By: Faizan Shaikh

Is it possible in this age for us to reflect on ourselves without any distractions?

In this age of technology, it has become much more difficult to reflect on ourselves without distractions. The moment we try to reflect ourselves and attempt tazkiyah al-nafs (purification of the self), we are distracted by a number of things which are 'ACTUALLY OWNED BY US BUT HAVE FACTUALLY ENSLAVED US.'

We are too busy clicking on Facebook and signing on checkbook, our phones are ringing, our television sets are singing, our bells are dinging, our clocks are tinging, our friends on chats are pinging. We are never left alone, we can never hold on our own.

The shackles of headphones cover our ears, weaken our minds, and entwine our necks. Use of multiple devices for listening to music deadened our hearts and senses.

Our children are stuck on their televisions, our teenagers on their phones, our adults on their laptops and notebooks, and our uncles and aunties on their tablets in the age when they are up with medicinal tablets and capsules.

Therefore, in reality these devised devices didn't make our lives more efficient but have only made us more distracted than ever. Possessed by the devil of multitasking, we keep multiple tabs of social media, news feeds, videos, and chat windows open while we are working on important projects at workplaces.

Overcoming such distractions by shaytaan and starting to reflect on ourselves will in sha Allah make us realize how much of our lives we wasted in aimless wandering, to look within ourselves, to increase in our gratitude for the blessings and bounties bestowed upon us by Allah.

To achieve these benefits, we will require much sacrifice and determination on our part. We will have to avoid all worldly distractions from our hearts and firmly hold on Sunnah and a whole new world filled with personal insights and realizations will gradually reveal itself to us.

We ask Allah to make all of us steadfast in Islam, and bestow more of His bounty upon us, for He is All-Hearing, Ever Near.

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