Question:
Is it true that one who uses facebook will not see Prophet Muhammad (S)?
Answer:
Shaykh Hisham’s Jumu`ah khutba:
Raise Your Children to Love the Prophet (s)!
5 August 2011 Burton, Michigan
Jumu`ah Khutbah at As-Siddiq Mosque
We are passing in a time in which we are facing a major problem, that we are watching and using Facebook and YouTube and all other technology the Internet provides. It is not anymore a civilization, it is the worst ignorance that we are falling in. People might ask, “Why are you saying this? We are using the Internet for legal purposes, for things we need.” That might be ten percent of usage, but the other ninety percent might be devoted to viewing YouTube, Facebook, Google and Yahoo for sexual purposes and porn. You are losing your children because you raised them wrong! Now a child knows how to use the computer and you are letting your child sit behind the computer and watch programs that are not allowed! Don’t make excuses as they are rejected. You say, “We must follow the time.” No, the time must follow us.
The Prophet (s) mentioned many things in order to give us heavenly programs that we can see and use. But, unfortunately, our focus is only on dunya with nothing about akhirah. The Prophet (s) mentioned, “Your love must not be for anything in this dunya except for me.” Our love must be directed to our Prophet (s). We have to raise our children to love the Prophet (s) as they don’t know who is the Prophet (s) or anything except Christmas trees!
When I first came to this country in 1991, I came to Jersey City, New Jersey and someone who supports a lot of mosques invited lot of guests and I was among them. It was December. I saw many imams there and all of them were respected ones, and I saw in the corner of his living room a huge Christmas tree. He is a Muslim and no one said anything about that, but they praised that man because he is so helpful for mosques.
I asked, “Can I say something?”
He said, “Yes.”
I asked him, “How many children do you have?”
He said, “I have two,” and he brought them.
I asked them, “Who is your Prophet?”
They said, “We don’t know.”
I asked them, “Are you Muslim?”
They said, “Yes.”
However, to become Muslim one must say, “Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna muhammadan rasoolullah, I bear witness that there is no god save Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger.”
I said, “What is this?”
The children replied, “This is a Christmas tree.”
I asked, “And who is it for?”
They said, “It is for Jesus.”
That man was humiliated as his children did not know anything about Islam and the Prophet (s), but they knew about Jesus and Christmas. No one advised them. These imams…. throw in the dustbin, as what benefit do you get of that? You allow your children to be spoiled, and you get no benefit in akhirah! Therefore, is better to go back home (to your country) if your home is still good, because many of our places back home are becoming westernized.
I am not saying that current Middle East events are due to using Facebook as they are forced to use it, but when your children are using Facebook to watch bad movies to run after their own sexual desires, you are not teaching your children to learn to love the Prophet (s) and you are allowing them to run after their sexual desires! When we were young we didn’t open our mouth about sexual issues; we didn’t know anything, we were stupid and ignorant about it, but we were able to win the other side, with Allah’s blessings and the Prophet’s blessings. And now they navigate the whole website not just on a computer, but also on their smart phones. During Jumu`ah they check messages on their phone. You cannot spare five minutes for Islam?
The Prophet (s) said, “Do you love me?” Do you really love him? Then you will be with him. So make your children to be with their Prophet (s)! Tell them they are wrong. Send them to Muslim schools on weekends and don’t let them to sit and watch TV all day long. Today Muslim parents encourage their children to have a boyfriend or girlfriend. This is Ramadan! Allah said, fa dhakkir, “remind!” If you like it, you like it; if you don’t, you don’t (but I am fulfilling my duty to remind you).
The Prophet (s) said, “Do you like me?” If you like the Prophet (s), then follow what he taught and avoid anything bad. “If you love me, revive my Sunnah.”
The Prophet (s) said
:مَنْ أَحْيَا سُنَّتِي فَقَدْ أَحَبَّنِي وَمَنْ أَحَبَّنِي كَانَ مَعِي فِي اَلْجَنَّةِ
ma ahyaa sunnatee faqad ahabanee wa man ahabanee kaana ma`aiyy fi ’l-jannah
Who revives my Sunnah has loved me and who loved me will be with me in Paradise.
And Sunnah of the Prophet (s) is not only to wear modest clothes and a turban. It is better not to wear that than to watch Facebook and such things! The school says, “You must research this,” and when you research online you come across naked images, then your bad desires awaken and you pull that out. Authorities at that school may go to the Hellfire as they are encouraging children from a young age to do wrong.
Today children say, “You have to have a girlfriend or boyfriend, or you are backwards.” Didn’t they teach you that in school? So they encourage children to do haraam from the beginning, and if you don’t raise them to know what is right and wrong from childhood, they will think what the school teaches is correct. Everyone there is doing haraam and no one doing halaal. So Sunnah is not just to wear loose clothes and a turban; it is better to stop haraam than to wear such clothes. It is better to teach yourself, then your family, then your relatives, and then the community. Don’t go to the relatives and the community and try to fix them; fix your household first, correct it, then you can go to the community. First look around yourself.
If you say you love the Prophet (s), then do his Sunnah. Do you think his Sunnah will allow you to look at something unacceptable on Facebook or YouTube? If you think his Sunnah allows it then do it. But if even a fraction says, “No, that is not acceptable,” then leave it!
The Prophet (s) said “who revives my Sunnah loves me.”
Make your children love the Prophet (s).
I asked Muslim boys in New York, “Do you celebrate Mawlid?”
They said, “What is Mawlid?”
“Do you celebrate Christmas?”
“Yes.” They also said to me, “Mawlid is bida`.” They have a Christmas tree in their home; is it not bida`? They meet and drink alcohol on that night and say, “Hoorah!”
Prophet (s) also said, “Who loves me will be with me in Paradise.” So make sure you are not using Facebook except in matters at work; Facebook is not a research site like google, it is only a social network. You must not have interest in Facebook as it is haraam! Cancel your Facebook account as it doesn’t teach you anything good; naked people come with their tails, and you accept a friend then that friend will come with all his friends to you (and you will not be protected from their evil).
The Prophet (s) said, “None of you is considered a believer (his belief is not perfect) until he loves me more than he loves his child.”
Who do you love more, your wife or your child? Your child, tell the truth! So the Prophet (s) said, “You have to love me more than your children and your parents and everyone else, in order to be considered a believer.”
So then what do we have to do? It is better to put our head down and make istighfaar rather than advise others. First fix yourself, then give advice to others. “I must be loved more than anyone and even your self.” Do you love the Prophet (s) more than yourself? Say yes!
إنما الأعمال بالنيات
innama al-`amaalu bin-niyyaat,
Every action is by intention.
Raise your children on love of the Prophet (s)! From childhood, raise them to fast and pray, as you will be asked on Judgment Day, Why did you allow your children to go astray and become deviant?” There are many reasons that Allah (swt) will forgive, and we ask Allah to forgive us and guide us to the right way, the way of Ahl as-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama’ah, the way of those who love the Prophet (s).
They are teaching us to be secular or sexual; to them is there anything else? They want you to choose either to be secular and not accept any religion, or to accept religion and also have boyfriends and girlfriends! Damn them!
(Du`a)
Taher Siddiqui
