Point 17: Breaking Free

Some times it helps to break some of our not always constructive habits, to ensure that we do not depend on them. For a start, why not turn off the TV for a week, or if you are not in control of the TV in your house, just decide that you will stay away from it for a week. This is not to imply that watching TV is necessarily against Tazkiyah. The point however, is that if we find during this ‘rehabilitation’ period that it is difficult not to watch TV, and it seems like we are not sure how to use our time in the absence of the TV, then this means that we have made the TV one of our life requirements. It is this aspect of the TV (and any other kind of entertainment that per se, cannot be considered Haram) that might go against our endeavour for Tazkiyah. 

One may read the above paragraph again, this time replacing the word ‘TV’ with ‘music’, ‘internet’ (where it is not related to our job), (for younger friends) ‘games’, ‘texting’ and any other technological tool that has indiscernibly become an indisputable part of the every day life in our era.

(Dr Abdullah Rahim)

_______________