If you’re Amurrican, you know that today is Black Friday, the time right after Thanksgiving that’s like a crazy shopping fest to get things for a really low price before the holidays. If you’re not Amurrican, you’re probably shaking your head and going “Wow, what a consumption-oriented society.” AND YES! You have every right to think that because we are. Americans, even poor and middle-class ones, are still richer than the majority of people in other countries. And that’s not a good thing. I can’t remember the hadith right now, but I believe there is one where Prophet Muhammad SAW says that he does not fear the state of his ummah [community] when they are poor; he fears the state of his ummah when they are rich. Because richness makes people forget. It makes them lose perspective. And that’s exemplified during Black Friday shopping.
Step back for a minute and think about how ridiculous it is that people camp out at stores hours before they open just to get their hands on an electronic. Like, why? Why would you waste so much time and energy just for something that’s so material, something that can break in literally a second? It’s kind of sickening to see so many people in this vain, futile, materialistic pursuit of pointless things in this life, because whether or not you believe in an afterlife, you have to admit that this life—everything in it—is temporary. Nothing lasts forever.
So yesterday I went Black Friday shopping for the first time. My sister-in-law and I went to the mall and I saw people coming out of stores with like BAGS full of God-knows-what. In all the girl clothing shops we went to—Wet Seal, Cotton On, Sol, yadda yadda—there are girls literally just carrying piles of stuff in their arms. And so I was there trying to look for a decent, non-sheer, long, modest top (I didn’t find any, by the way. #themuslimahstruggle) and I was reading the tags on some of the clothes.
How often do we note where something is made? Rarely, because we’re consumers. That’s what we are. We seriously just don’t care about the origins of anything we desire and buy. All the clothes were made somewhere other than the US. Made in Cambodia. Made in India. Made in Pakistan.
My question is, how many underpaid laborers worked to make the shirts that girls were so frantically piling in their arms? What are their living conditions like? Do they even have clothes to cover their back? Do they have children who had to leave school to work and support the family?
That’s the thing about materialistic environments. Nobody thinks too deeply about anything. And I can bet you everything that not one girl in any of the stores gave a s*** about what was behind that top she fought with her mom to buy.
I know a lot of you have already gone shopping and I know some of you are going to go now or in a few hours, like I am (inshallah). I’m not saying not to buy anything, but all I’m asking is for you to not get carried away with the materialistic nature of Black Friday—or any other day, if your country doesn’t have one—and stop to think about the deeper meaning behind your actions. I think girls in particular love looking good and we look at the smaller details of clothes and shoes which is why we accumulate so damn much of both.
But don’t just use the girl thing as a copout for our responsibility as a human being. Enjoy your shopping and spending (but spend wisely) and take a moment to put your life into perspective and ask yourself if you really need what you’re about to buy and if you feel justified in buying that thing when there are children who—at the same moment you’re deliberating whether or not to buy the whole damn mall—are just trying to figure out where their next meal will come from.
It’s not like not buying the thing will cause one less child to sleep hungry tonight, but a social conscience is the first step towards being an analytical global citizen who can one day make a difference in these global issues that confront the state of the human race.
Happy shopping and please be safe. Love for your brother/sister what you love for yourself, and keep that in mind. Analyze your actions on a deeper level and don’t let your environment or the people around you change your priorities and your concerns.
