Shaythan & Technology

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted from a swuhbah by Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 05^th January 2010. 

Knowledge comes from Experience.  Only one, who has experienced, will acquire the knowledge to explain that experience.  An example would be of one who has travelled to Damascus.  He would certainly know about the territory, the climate, the creatures that live there and the local culture and customs.  If he has not been to Baghdad, he would know nothing of it.  So we can never know everything, but he can learn much by experiencing.  In the study of Islam, we must take knowledge from one who has experienced what he is speaking about, for such knowledge is different from one who simply read or heard about it. 

We do not judge a message by looking at the speaker, but to listen to the words of the message itself.  If we take knowledge from one who has experienced and understood it, we will be able to feel the satisfaction that such knowledge brings to our heart.  A true message brings satisfaction.  We cannot buy satisfaction from a supermarket.  We cannot buy it with money.  It is a Divine Gift from Allah (s.w.t.) to the hearts of seekers.  A heart finds satisfaction when it understands what it seeks to know.  When our heart is satisfied, it means we have taken something beneficial from the swuhbah. 

We cannot understand religion by ourselves.  Allah (s.w.t.) has Sent prophets and saints to bring the light of understanding into our hearts.  These are the chosen people, who bring the light of understanding into your hearts.  Yet many of us have our eyes closed; we are asleep, we are heedless, and we do not seek out these chosen people, so we remain in the dark, our hearts troubled and unsatisfied.  Humans open their eyes wide only to seek out profit, business and other worldly matters; but are blind to matters pertaining to the message of the prophets.  Honour is linked to matters of akhirah, not dunya, but people are always seeking dunya.  The treasures of dunya are just a mirage but the treasures of akhirah are endless.  Yet we are exceedingly heedless.  Technology has created for him many distractions and he does not care to seek Reality anymore, joining Shaythan on the way to oblivion. 

The Jews rejected both ‘Isa (a.s.) and Muhammad (s.a.w.), saying that they only accept Musa (a.s.).  Did they really obey Musa (a.s.)?  Allah (s.w.t.) had Commanded Bani Isra’il to obey Musa’s (a.s.) orders.  Yet when Musa (a.s.) left them for a few days, what did Bani Isra’il do?  From amongst them, was Shaythan's representative, Samiri.  And he laid out traps for the people of Bani Isra’il, and thousands were snared in these traps, and were duped into worshipping a golden cow.  A single representative of Shaythan was enough to mislead thousands of them. 

Shaythan does not sit on his laurels.  He works incessantly to mislead us.  Shah Baha’ ad-Din Muhammad an-Naqshband (q.s.) had remarked, “If I had seen Iblis sleeping, I would have bound his hands, and gagged his mouth, but at no time did I ever seen him asleep.”  Shaythan works very hard, never resting.  He spends every moment seeking to trap and destroy us.  Shaythan is the hardest working creature on earth.  Shaythan now controls whole countries by controlling their leaders.  Tyrants under the thumb of Shaythan keep their citizens under their yoke, imposing Shaythan’s wayward and cruel ways on them.  By controlling one man, Shaythan exerts his influence over an entire nation. 

Shaythan extends his hold on the entire ummah today, by setting traps using the many devices invented by technological advances.  Today, we have mobile phones, internet, laptops, home theatre systems, sports cars, jets, iPods, Playstations - the list of inventions is endless.  And using these, Shaythan has set his biggest traps that have caught practically everyone on Earth.  Almost all our lives are now wasted in the pursuit of entertainment - music and movies.  Many people build virtual lives on the internet, and spend much time chatting, surfing and playing games.  Free mixing amongst the sexes, and easy online introductions, promote promiscuity and pornography.  Almost every youngster is either addicted to some computer game, or has music plugged into his ears.  The race to acquire the latest in technology means we are always seeking new phones, computers and related devices.  An entire ummah of blind, distracted people, seeking gratification and pleasure, wasting time and money, has emerged.  Shaythan has used modern technology, to ensnare almost everyone. 

Technology has become Shaythan’s representative.  People have left the Shari’ah of Allah (s.w.t.), because of the expanding influence of technology.  Technology has brought people away from the remembrance of Allah (s.w.t.), and into a meaningless, virtual life, wasted on pleasure and entertainment.  Why are the scholars not speaking out against all this?  Salafi scholars have the time to label dzikr, mawlud and swalawat as shirk, bid’ah and haram but have no time to warn the masses of Shaythan’s traps.