The Truth and Nothing But the Truth
I want to make a confession here.. Having a public space where I can freely express my thoughts and feelings is as much a great responsibility as it is a privilege. I should always speak truthfully and refrain from circulating any falsehoods of any kind. I ought to be consciously aware of the ideas I instill in people’s minds and how useful they are. This is much easier said than done. Hiding behind flat screens, those ‘keyboard warriors’ can very effortlessly pretend and fake other identities. As I often say to my daughter “people are not always who they seem to be online”.
In Islam, we are encouraged to seek the Truth and to always speak truthfully. It is narrated that the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon Him) said: “It is obligatory for you to tell the truth, for truth leads to virtue and virtue leads to Paradise, and the man who continues to speak the truth and endeavors to tell the truth is eventually recorded as truthful with Allah, and beware of telling of a lie for telling of a lie leads to obscenity and obscenity leads to Hell-Fire, and the person who keeps telling lies and endeavors to tell a lie is recorded as a liar with Allah.”* Therefore, being a Muslim I am supposed to be mindful of Allah in every step that I take and to say and do only that which pleases Him. As the hadeeth implies, there is a direct correlation between telling the truth and being virtuous. The opposite is also true: lying will eventually lead to more lying until it becomes a label, thus leading to Hell-Fire, may Allah protect us.
As a Muslim woman, I should also be true to my authentic self and strive to please Allah Alone. I must take pride in identifying as a Muslimah both online and offline. Acting by the rules of Islam and being mindful of them online as well as in real life is something I should get used to as part of my routine. So having my public blog is not all sunshine and rainbows; I have to respectfully stick to the rules of the game, and go by those rules which my religion has put forward. I hope I will live up to that, may Allah make it easy for me.
*Source of the Hadeeth: https://sunnah.com/muslim:2607c
