Newpapers and magazines
All praises and glory are only due to Allah who had given us night and day. He had given us time so that we can perform our duties and obligations towards Him and so that we all can enjoy the temporary teasing happiness the world has to offer. We are not to create ruins on earth, we are not to let evil control earth but we are to help each other for what its worth. We are only human, no is special in God's "Eye" except those who strives hard to get His Blessings and begs for His mercy. He is The Most Kind, He only wants good coming out from each and everyone of us. He dislikes those who does evil, wronged themselves and wronged others without any proper reasons. Nothing will ever be like Him and nothing is above Him.
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad is the final messenger and there is noone after him. Angel Gabriel was sent by Allah to Prophet Muhammad to convey the revelations of the Qur'an. Both the Qur'an and the hadeeths are the two final source muslims must hold on to. Those who wish not to go astray must use the Qur'an and the Prophet's hadeeth as the fundamental basis in their everyday life. Read it and practice it.
Allah, He is The Most Wise. Islam have taught its followers to be aware of the tactics of satan and his troops. Through out history, we have learned that satan had been trying to conjure up ways to change the righteous course. All humans were created by Allah, we are to serve our creator and obey His rules and not to be a disobedient ungrateful servant. This is how all of us were meant to behave initially. Due to the dirty tricks of satan, some have fallen into these traps without realizing that they are slowly descending into the pits of hell. It is important for each and every muslim to notice the obvious and hidden ways developed by satan allies to make us look like a fool during Resurrection day .Remember that satan comes in two forms; jinns and men. This was mentioned in the Qur'an:
Say: I seek refuge with the Lord and Cherisher of Mankind, The King (or Ruler) of Mankind, The God (or Judge) of Mankind, From the mischief of the Whisperer (of Evil), who withdraws (after his whisper), (The same) who whispers into the hearts of Mankind, Among Jinns and among Men. [An-Naas: 1-6]
Now that we know that satan comes in 2 forms. We then need to identify who and how they will ruin our lives on earth and after this world perishes. Obviously, there is no way we can detect satan in the form of jinn since we do not have the ability to "see" them but there are some who had been given this specialty. Our beloved Prophet was given such ability. He was able to communicate both with humans (as we all do) and jinns. Jinns were said to populate this world more than the humans. They would get married, have kids, eat and so on. It was also mentioned that if humans were able to see jinns, we would suffocate into the depth of jinss. Wallahu'alam.
Satan in the form of men can come in many forms. They are mostly disbelievers, hypocrites, infidels, wrongdoers, rebels and those who are disobedient to Allah. Its actually very hard to know who these people are as many of them can disguise themselves into something they are not. When its obvious its obvious. The old ways were just not that "effective" anymore. Muslims were used to be forced to convert to other religions and if not, they would threatened, killed or tortured. These were the obvious ways. But now, that won't work because as we are protected by specific laws and regulations.
Slowly, unfortunately and quietly, you would hear stories about how muslims are reverting to other religions (apostates). For those who does not know, apostates (murtad) will not be accepted by earth soil and their corpse will be damned until Resurrection Day. Muslims reverting to other religions are often caused by love, fame, and money. Just as the case of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (apostate). He WAS a muslim but due to false desires and intentions, he revoked the teachings of Islam. Changing adzan (call of prayer) from arabic language into turkish language was one of his "achievement". Long story short, he died in an ugliest possible way.
We need to understand that satan will try to make muslims "fill in" the vacancies in hell. There are now many ways being developed by the followers of satan. Understanding these methods will 'insya Allah (God's willing) increase our awareness level and avoid ability towards these false disobedient means. It was mentioned countless times by scholars that KNOWLEDGE is POWER and Allah also mentioned in the Qur'an:
"Nor should the Believers all go forth together: if a contingent from every expedition remained behind, they could devote themselves to studies in religion, and admonish the people when they return to them, that thus they (may learn) to guard themselves (against evil)." [At-Taubah: 122]
The Prophet also mentioned that seeking knowledge is a compulsion on every muslim and he also mentioned about the importance of having knowledge:
"Allah does not take away the knowledge, by taking it away from (the hearts of) the people, but takes it away by the death of the religious learned men until when none of the (religious learned men) remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they go astray and they will lead the people astray." [Bukharee: Vol 1 No. 100].
"Those people endowed with knowledge are the inheritors of the prophets." [Hadeeth Hassan, Abu Dawood, ibn Majah, At-Tirmithi, ibn Habaan].
Where do we go to if we needed local and international news? where do we go to if we needed information about flight arrivals and departures? Where do we go to if we needed to find a job or trying to look for used cars? One of the source would be by going to the proper website or turning onto the news channels but perhaps the most massive medium to get our hands on the latest news and such would be newspapers! Its affordable, its available/reliable and its resourceful.
So, everyday a person would stop over a convenient store and grab that days' newspaper and read it at the office or at a coffee house or where ever. Again, for those nations which are still in the developing stage, it would be perhaps safe to say that newspapers are the common tool for humans to get news locally and internationally and this would be applicable to third world countries. For developed countries, the usage of newspapers are declining due to the exploding usage rates of the internet and wireless technology as they can always subscribe to rss feed to get the latest new on a website. Alas, if we are not careful, this would mean that there are more ways for satan to spoil our mind and soul.
Nonetheless, those nations which are still dependent on newspapers would still buy local newspapers especially senior citizens (those who are computer illiterate). True, it is good to be updated and to know the current on-goings of the world and which celebrity died that day? or how to lose your fat in 30 days program or where to find the latest lingerie in your town? Newspapers are not only for news and entertainment, it is also one of the ways for people to sell their products and services. They would place their tiny ads to get readers attentions.
Notice the deadly transition of newspapers now. Newspapers are now used as an object to portray sexy images (aurat) in hidden ways. Flip over and you will find before and after losing weight program which shows "transformed" image of a women in a very tight tone. It gets worse during the weekend newspapers, you will see pictures of models half naked wearing 'fashionable outfit', cleavage showing and with mini-skirts. As muslims that we are, we are FORBIDDEN to see others aurat and it is sinful. The things we see will influence our mind, just like after watching a hot action movie. A person would start talking and doing some moves from the movies and this is how we our mind is influenced unconsciously. Ever watched one of Bruce Lee's movies, what did you do after finished watching?
Besides newspapers, magazines (teen magazines and the such) are also used to give fashion news, whats hot & whats not and whats in and whats out. These kinds of magazines are targeted to the younger generations (teenages and youths) which is really the "best time" to ruin their minds since their minds are open to news ideas and fashions. During this stage, these flock will be in the stage of finding their ideal personality and with these handy magazines in hand, there would have no problem in deciding. WRONG!
It was mentioned in truthout.com, [begin quote] "sex is what sells, even to me, " another 18-year-old said. "If you buy a magazine and it says sex or has a sexy cover, it intrigues you and you buy it and whatever makes them sell more they'll use," she said, in an apparent reference to advertisers. "The sexy images DO have an effect on me even though I know it shouldn't because it is based on materialism and shallowness." [end quote]. Bear in mind, this comment was given by a typical teenager in the US (a well-developed nation), how about nations which are still in the developing stage? One teenager also commented that it is "normal" to see sexy images of women.
Its really unfortunate that even reading newspapers now can cause one to be sinful. Its really sad now to see how susceptible we are to this disease. Prophet Muhammad once mentioned that humans will commit at least 70 sins per day and that is why as muslims, we are advised to beg for Allah's forgiveness (istighfar) 70 or 100 times a day before we sleep. So, as a muslim, we need to strengthen our mind, body and soul and keep an eye out for the evil tactics of non-muslims. An obedient muslim will have no problem in fighting against the devil, God's willing. We are meant to save ourselves and our family from the evildoers.
O ye who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who flinch not (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allah, but do (precisely) what they are commanded. [At-Tahrim: 6]
