By Nasser Ijaz Moghal
Tensions were high. You could almost cut the tension that permeated the air with a knife. I felt like Pacman as I roamed in the narrow rows and columns formed by hundreds of tables and chairs. You could tell that this was no easy day. All those anxious and worried faces stared into the abyss of a desolate unforgiving monstrosity: the exam hall. The students lined up like sheep being taken to the slaughter house. The hour came near as the students sat at their allocated places. The exam hall started buzzing with activity as soon as the following words were pronounced: “You may start.” I observed that the students differed in their stationery. While some carried only a pen, others were well equipped with erasers, sharpeners, scales, calculators, set squares, compasses and even chocolates. They were all very different, wearing different kinds of dresses. And this difference was not only outwardly but also inwardly. Each had a unique background, upbringing and mindset. The only thing common to all was #NazreinNeechay. Why? Because there was the fear of the invigilator, and they had a purpose in mind on which they were focusing diligently.
Enter now into the exam hall called life! In our lives today, we seem to have neither fear of Divine Authority, nor a sublime purpose to our lives. Hence, we don’t care about what images we devour with our eyes. These images that enter our pupils slowly yet certainly become a part of who we are.
Our entire education system is based on visual learning. You have to read books, look at diagrams, draw paintings and graphs. From the day that we set foot into our educational institutes, we are programmed to become visual slaves. When you say apple what comes to your mind? A red juicy fruit, right? And not the letter A-P-P-L-E, right? If so, you like the majority of people, are a visual learner. Now what do you think will happen when this visual learner goes into the real world and finds billboards, TV, Facebook, news channels, cinemas and shopping malls plastered by visual filth? There is so much visual pollution around us. People are worried about global warming and CO2 emissions. But is anyone concerned about our children whose eyes have been polluted with so much filth? They know by heart the names and bio-data of all the Hollywood actresses and actors, while the names of the Sahabah and Sahabiyaat allude them.
The Messenger of Allah (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) used to say that prayer was the coolness of his eyes. How many of our youth are aware of this reality or have experienced this? The coolness of their eyes lies in watching so and so porn star. When these youth are searching for a potential spouse, no one seems to match their criterion. Why? Because they have seen better. They aspire for photo-shopped princesses that only exist in ZUZU land. So they end up choosing a partner without Taqwa (piety), and losing both the worlds.
Do you think for a moment that Allah would let you gaze at Him with such polluted eyes?!! Can you even imagine the terror of the Day of Judgment, when Allah will question you for the eyes that He gave you? A fly has 6000 eyes and it is interested only in seeing filth. Are you worse than that fly? Do you choose to anger Allah willingly? Or do you choose to be pleased with what Allah has prepared for his submissive slaves in Jannah. In that Jannah, where you will be pleased by Hoor-ul-ain, and by colors and shapes that you never imagined; where you will eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth. Wallahi, brothers and sisters, Allah has a lot planned for you in Jannah so would you rather pollute your eyes here?
