Lowering the Gaze

Bismi-llahi ar-rahmani ar-rahimi, In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. And I beg for forgiveness from Allah for whatever sin that I have done in the past and to show me the right path. Ameen.

Assalamualaikum / Greetings dear readers.

The authors of this blog sincerely apologise for our long absence, due to a lot of work and unnoticingly maybe, lacksture of imaan. A`uzubillah. But as muslims, we are trying our best to control ourselves from every possible bad deed. Insya'Allah, we'll be able to do that.

Firstly, we would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, in the Muslim calender. Often people forget about the muslim calender. Today marks the first month, Muharram, of the year 1430 Hijrah. All praises to Allah swt for allowing us to live up to this moment.

Secondly, i have decided to take out the post on music and islaam. I feel that it is quite a big topic and needs more in-depth research before being posted. My apologies for that. May Allah guide us to greater useful knowledge. Ameen.

There is a post i would like to share today. It is about lowering our gaze.

It is a common and widespread disease that we often look at things that are haraam to us. Allah swt said that there are two things that are haraam to our eyes and ultimately, the heart. They are the property of the disbelievers and the opposite sex. Below is an account of a Muslim man that i found at http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39985.

"Lowering the gaze – Women and man’s desires

I begin by asking Allah to cure me of a wide spread disease, the disease of the un-restricted gaze and I pray that He guides me whilst I am writing this and whilst you are reading this inshAllah.

I have long been suffering by giving free reign to my eyes, suffering physically and spiritually, which has brought me to write my thoughts onto paper, or more specifically, onto the medium by which I am causing my destruction, the internet. I pray that Allah guides me through this state of heedlessness that I am in, to bring me our near to Him and into the beauty of Islaam, for what is better than being close to Allah!

You may be suffering from this too, for I have found it is a wide spread disease, common amongst Muslims unfortunately. For years I have been looking at internet sites, looking at women in the street, just to satisfy my sick desire for women. But we must remember, as young single Muslim men, that our purpose in life is not to follow our desires. If it were, there would be no need to Islaam, which is the complete surrender of your soul – and hence your desires – to the One who created us. Therefore, if our desires are not in line with the obligations placed on us by Islaam, we are not Muslim.

The Prophet Muhammad – may Allah bless him and exalt him – said that there is a cure for EVERYTHING, except death. Therefore if you feel trapped, do not – for there is a cure but you must strive if you are going to achieve it. And this striving, is the ultimate difference between Jannah and Jahannam.

Before the cure, ponder over these ayat of Allah:

“Every soul shall have a taste of death
And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense
Only he who is saved far from the fire
And admitted to the Garden will have obtained the object (of life)
For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception” 3:185

“When My servants ask thee concerning Me,
I am indeed close (to them)
I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me
Let them also, with a will, listen to My call
And believe in Me
That they may walk in the right way.” 2:185

SubhanAllah! Just think about YOUR Lord, who created you, sustains you, feeds you, clothes you, educates you, loves you, and how many people, just like you are there in this world!

I know it is hard, for the charms of women are many, but keep yourself chaste, it is purer for you. Imagine life with your wife, do you really want these haraam images to be affecting your relationship?

So the cure is simple, if you really want this cure, observe the 3 steps below:
1. Read salat ul fajr every day at its appointed time, in congregation if possible
2. Read the Book of Allah, if you don’t know Arabic, read a translation
3. Pray tahajjud every day, keep perservering, do not give up

BUT! Before you do, regardless of which item it is above, ensure you are doing it for Allah alone and imagine His greatness whilst performing these acts.

Personally, whenever I commit this sin, I keep persisting, but inshAllah I am going to implement the above 3 steps. When I commit the sin, I feel depressed, cannot think or comprehend people, I become shy, my heart turns into a rock and I feel like the scum of society. Why do this when Islaam can enlighten your heart, and provide you with the pleasures of women through marriage.

I leave you with 2 hadith to ponder over:

(10) Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "When it is the last third of the night, our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, descends every night to the heaven of the world and says, 'Is there anyone who invokes Me (demand anything from Me), that I may respond to his invocation; Is there anyone who asks Me for something that I may give (it to) him; Is there anyone who asks My forgiveness that I may forgive him?' " (Book #75, Hadith #333)


(45) Narrated Abu Huraira: I heard the Prophet saying, "If somebody commits a sin and then says, 'O my Lord! I have sinned, please forgive me!' and his Lord says, 'My slave has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for it, I therefore have forgiven my slave (his sins).' Then he remains without committing any sin for a while and then again commits another sin and says, 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah says, 'My slave has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for it, I therefore have forgiven my slave (his sin). Then he remains without Committing any another sin for a while and then commits another sin (for the third time) and says, 'O my Lord, I have committed another sin, please forgive me,' and Allah says, 'My slave has known that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for it I therefore have forgiven My slave (his sin), he can do whatever he likes." (Book #93, Hadith #598)

Oh Allah, help us, forgive us, protect us from Your displeasure, and instill the light of emaan in our hearts. Ameen."

I find that this is a very inspiring account, that makes us open our eyes to things that we feel is common but in actual fact, haraam. We have a lot of gifts from Allah swt, but sometimes we misuse them, eg. the eye.

Many things that we can do to get trapped in the disease include getting closer to the Quraan and Sunnah and living by them, or simply not letting ourselves be drifting towards the slightest thought of it.

Insya'Allah, may this post help us in our daily lives and make us amongst those in Al-Jannah. Ameen.

If there's any error, I'm open for rectification. None is perfect as perfection only belongs to Allah (God Almighty). All good things come from Allah and all the bad things are from my side and the side of Shaiytan the accursed.