Shirk in Disguise

Chapter 9

Yusuf picked up the phone, despite the fact that he knew he should probably just give it back. Curiosity got the better of him. On checking it, he saw that it was open to her Facebook account, a social network he wasn't really familiar with. He just couldn't understand how people while away their precious time mostly posting pictures and following people. Only few people did worthwhile things on the network. He also thought the name given to the social platform to be quite ironic.

Nevertheless, Yusuf continued scrolling down the page, viewing the kinds of people Sarah followed and the things she posted and liked. He was browsing through all this when a particular picture posted by Sarah caught his attention and he froze – it was a picture of a bikini-wearing Sarah with her similarly-dressed friends.

At that moment, he didn't know what to do. He felt so disappointed in the girl and he contemplated not marrying her at all. He had hitherto known that Sarah wasn't a model Muslimah and her family was a bit westernized but he'd never imagined her virtue to have fallen to such depths.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only morally indecent picture that he saw in Sarah's account. As he continued to scroll down, he saw numerous pictures that he'd rather not see but at the same time was thankful to have seen so that he could take the necessary actions.

He wondered how long she'd been doing this. The images portrayed a scene that was culturally, morally and religiously unfit on their own; but going ahead to post them all over social media for everyone to see...that was just too much.

Display triggers either of two reactions. On the one hand, it may elicit a bit of appreciation, leading to a bit of satisfaction on the part of the 'Displayer'. However, most times, it leads to objectification and indiscriminate criticism. In such situations, the people on display are viewed as 'articles' judged based on physical appearances. Like a Barbie Doll or just any object on display in the mall, every Tom, Dick and Harry has the liberty to defame and degrade, even making lewd comments...after ogling their eyes out of course.

Unfortunately, most people fail to pause and reason out if it's really worth all the trouble. Human beings are composed of two: The Body and The Soul. The soul is the controlling element while the body is just a vessel. Therefore, the Soul's worth far supercedes the physical body. One can't help how he or she looks but can surely improve his or her True Self. When one's life on Earth is over, doesn't the body decay and become food for the worms? Then why spend more attention to it rather than doing the needful?!

To some people, this 'Display Syndrome' is like a reaction to a cause, while some do it because of a feeling of inferiority as they continuously compare themselves with 'so and so' when it's absolutely pointless as we're all created uniquely for a reason. Another set of people do it for deception, especially on social media. These sets of people feel they have to project a certain false image for the world to see, while struggling and crumbling inside. They therefore indulge in such acts instead of doing the right things by setting the right priorities and putting a halt to the deception that is also accompanied by wastage of 'Scarce Resources' such as valuable time, emotions, peace of mind, self-esteem and even funds.

'But again,' Yusuf mused, 'perhaps she never thought I'd see them that's why she had the nerve to do this, seeing that I'm not usually interested in social media!' He shook his head at the thought. That wasn't really an excuse. She should have worried more about propriety and the favour and approval of her Lord rather than that of His creatures.

He was just about to keep the phone when it vibrated. He checked it again and saw that the vibration was due to a message from one of her chats, coming from a certain 'Genie'.