by Raqif Makhdoomi
Social media addiction in Kashmir is at an all-time high. From adults to young Kashmiris, all are riding high on social media addiction. People, especially the young generation, remain awake late just to use social media apps. Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts top the list of additions. Followed by X (formerly Twitter) Space and scrolling through its timeline. Nowadays even X has videos that can keep you engaged for hours, even without realising it. Facebook maintains its popularity among the old generation, while Instagram does among the young. Instagram is filled with daily vlogs. Nowadays everyone has become an “influencer” and keeps uploading stuff that doesn’t influence people but degrades them. Social media is playing a very significant role in degrading the moral values and making social values look like a backward thing.
The mobile phone was invented to bridge the gap, but now it has separated a whole family. Family members no longer communicate verbally but “text” each other either in a WhatsApp group or text personally. Social media apps were made to connect each other, but now they have become a place where vulgarity has become a norm. Unfortunately, people now think being vulgar is being “cool”. No, but that isn’t; that’s normalisation of vulgarity. Nowadays everyone wants to be a “singer” or a “rapper”. Well, that’s fine. If they recognise themselves to be good in that field. Let the case be. But the lyrics of the songs and raps are often seen to be filled with “abuses” and “slurs”. Raps have become a thing of belittling and browbeating others. Using abusive words and slurs in rhythm and adding music to it doesn’t make it “rap”; it becomes vulgarity and we need to accept it as so. Giving it fancy names won’t change the reality, whatever the case may be.
Late at night I was scrolling through reels, and a reel popped up. It was about some young boys doing rap. Within some seconds the lyrics turned to abuses. And to my surprise, as the rapper began with abuses, the people who were around him started to cheer him up. It made me think, what have we become? Things once unacceptable to us have now become a source of “entertainment for us”. This is “moral degradation” of our society. It’s time that we fix it. Abuses have become part of our lives. The thing that should concern us is the “age gap”. There’s no young or elder. Abuses are hurled without keeping any factor into consideration.
This is one of the backdrops of being “Frank”, “Straightforward”, and “Open-minded”. We see young-aged people abusing each other and taking it to be a normal thing. Abusing each other’s mothers and sisters has to be taken as a normal thing. Like, how on earth can it be a normal thing? Someone is abusing your mother or sister, or for that matter both, and you have no problem with it just because you are friends? There’s a term for a person who considers letting someone abuse his mother and sister normal; the term for that person is ‘cuckold’. And to actually know what it means. You need to take time and do some research. Islam calls being a “Dayyous” haram. There’s a Hadith of Prophet Mohammed (saw) in which he (saw) said to his (saw) companions (RA) that “There will come a time when people shall abuse their mothers.” The companions (RA) became curious and said, “O our beloved Prophet (saw), who shall be that unlucky guy who will abuse his own mother?” The prophet (saw) replied, “No, they won’t abuse their mothers but others. And abusing someone else’s mother is the same as abusing your own mother.” The one called “Unluckily” by the companions (RA) of the Prophet (saw), he/she must think will be successful even after meeting all the definitions of “success” of this world? To make it clear, we must not only hold males accountable for this sin. Females are equally and fully involved in this sin.
In another narration it’s said, “For every abuse a scorpion is put in the grave.” The size of the scorpion is said to be very big. It’s said, “If a single drop of his poison is put on the earth of this world. The whole world shall become barren. There shall be no vegetation. Now imagine what shall happen to the person who shall be bitten by that scorpion. May Allah save us from every punishment of the grave. Ameen. We need to understand whatever goes against the teachings of Islam is unacceptable and should be discontinued and disapproved.
I must disclose to you what made me write this piece. I use Clubhouse. For many of you who don’t know about it. Let me explain: it’s an app where people talk to each other. A room is created, and people join it. They are offered a mic, and then they get to speak. To be very honest, these days this app is keeping me awake till very late. Some rooms are informative, while some are good to have a conversation in. Strangers become friends and then even meet each other. I also happened to make some really good friends from this app. I met them a couple of times, and now we are very close friends who share secrets with each other. I am telling you all this just to let you know Clubhouse is a very good app, just in case reading this piece up to here might have given you a clue that it’s an app that’s bad altogether. There are good people on the app. But there are bad people as well. When I earlier joined the app, it was a good place to chill at. But with time, when it became known to people, it became a spot for vulgarity and indecency. I once tried to school a guy who abuses for “fun”. He replied to me, saying, “Gass par namaz’aa wamaza’aa kun jaie, yatie mee aas deen wanan.” The guy got irritated because I asked him not to abuse me.
A couple of days back, I happened to join a room, and when I entered the room. My head completely blew up when I heard the abuses they were hurling at each other. They didn’t even spare each other’s dead “grandparents”. For me that was something that seriously made me sad, and I made sure the things that are spreading but are not being noticed. Should be highlighted. One of the guys who was abusing his friend who was there with him in the room at his home tried to stop him, saying, “You are a Muslim. You shouldn’t be doing it.” To which the guy replied, “I am not a Muslim.” I was shocked to hear that coming from a Muslim. I interfered and tried to tell him that what he just said is wrong and he must seek forgiveness for it from Allah and recite Kalima again, to which he said, “Ye mujhe pe Allah ka Azaab hai tabie mai galiyaan de raha hu.” I wanted to have more conversation with him, but hearing his reply made me think. He’s not someone who can be spoken to. Who called himself a non-Muslim and then acknowledged that this is punishment from Allah and still did nothing. Can go to any level to look cool.
It’s better that we don’t lose our minds just to look cool. Vulgarity is vulgarity come what may.
Author is a law student. He can be mailed at raqifmakhdoomi818@gmail.com
