We, as
people live in a society, we can’t help
but feel the pressure from society. Societal pressure also deals with the
microscopic details of our lives. We notice our
loved ones trying to dress a certain way or demanding for a specific
device. They want what everybody else has. The idea of dressing a certain way or
a demand for a certain object wasn’t from their imagination, it is something
they picked up TV or from someone at school and that now becomes
a defining thing for them like ‘ THE WAY TO DRESS’ or ‘THE GADGET TO HAVE’. Little kids now wanting to have a phone, right? Why do you need a phone? My
friends have, why cant I?As we grow
older, societal pressure take different forms. You see your co-worker at the
office parking lot driving a nicer car than you and you go like ‘Man, I need to
get ahead. Look at what these guys are driving’. What do we gain by comparing
us with other? This is societal pressure, whether it is in form of dressing, or
where you put your money or in career.
Our parents
are also victims of societal pressure, ‘ Our neighbor is a doctor,
you better be one’. The interest of the child goes unnoticed. At times we
believe that it make life simple. All it does is make life hard. We all seen
wedding at our places, lavish, over the top, unnecessary expenses. Well, your
cousin had a big fat wedding, you must too. A simple nikah at the masjid? No
way, we have to show face in society in the long run. What will people say?
Credit card debt goes unnoticed by all.
What we must do is… Get in shape for your kids.
Not for yourself, for your kids. Play with them. You need to be better friend
to them than anyone else. Because wallahi this society offers lots of evil
friends. It does. And before they make those kinds of friends, they need to
find their best friend in you. It’s not the way we did things back home; back
home, you weren’t friends with your dad. Your dad came home & you sat
straight. Your dad spoke & you stood up & responded. There was a
relationship of respect and it was a distant relationship.
You don’t chill with your dad, right? You don’t do that. Here you have to do
that; you have to do that. Not just you should, you have to.
For the Muslims out there:
Allah just wants to lighten your burden. Allah
wants to take the load off of you; that’s what the deen is supposed to be &
you’ll find people that are enslaved to their culture, they are enslaved to
their societal pressure; when they talk about Islam, they say Islam is tough, Islam
is too strict, that’s exactly what these people say; the Islam is too strict
& what’s funny is, if they followed even small principles of the deen,
their lives would be a lot easier.
When
Allah talks about these trend followers, He did mention that here’s a trend we
should follow. Follow the way of
Ibraheem and you
know what that way of Ibraheem is, right? He didn’t
follow anybody else. Everybody is worshiping idols. I'm not. He’s gonna go the way
that Allah wants them to go. That’s the trend to follow.
May Allah make us understand His book the way
it should be understood. May Allah protect our children from falling into the
tide of cultural forces & pressures. May Allah make us of those who
understand His book, love His book & implement His book in our lives. May
Allah open the doors of its wisdom & the wisdom of the Sunnah of His
messenger (SAW) to all of us.
(This is a summary of a Lecture By Nouman Ali Khan which I could relate a lot to and hopefully you too)
FANAAAR!
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