Written by student/ Abdul Rahman Mohammad Kayyaly, Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering in al-Kharj
He roams around us and with us at all times; he’s ubiquitous; we honour him and favour him over anyone else despite the harm he inflicts on us. He has assailed every home. Nay, he has assailed every pocket.
He is the mobile phone, yes sure he is. This tiny device has robbed us of all that is beautiful; he’s incarcerated us in a virtual world that we live in without seeing; we spend hours on end with this device, totally oblivious of the havoc it is wreaking unto us and unto our bodies through deleterious waves it’s constantly emitting right at the cells in our bodies.
This phenomenon has been increasing at an alarming rate in our society; it has had serious consequences on our physical as well as psychological welfare; it’s become the number one thing we have on the brain, especially for our youths; youths are seen to constantly delve into it; they’re obsessed with it, yet no benefit is obtained from it, nor is any harm thwarted because of it, save for very few cases.
How so many lives have been annihilated because of it! How so many loved ones has been lost thanks to it! How much worship has been wasted! For all that it does to us, we still cling to it; we pay prodigious amounts of foldable stuff to acquire it, and more foldable stuff to maintain it, and more to embellish it. We are now at its beck and call, and we can never imagine our lives without it!
Now it is the mobile that runs are appointments; it is our reminder; it is the arbiter of our moods; it is our entertainer.
Our social gatherings have been deprived of vivacity: they are dead quiet; we have become the absent-present souls, gallivanting a virtual world, a world that has imposed itself upon us, a world that has become a mishmash of good and bad, right and wrong. How many reputations we have turned to tatters! How many private issues we have divulged! How many lies we have promulgated! How many secrets we have unravelled! Where are we from Allah’s words ‘O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done’? [Al-Hujurat: 6]
Hark, brother! Wake up before it’s too late. Allah created us free creatures. Let us not allow a piece of junk exploit us. We should rather utilise it in a way that serves our religion, our nation and our community. Let us not use this device to spread lies and rumours. Let us hold our tongues from poking into other’s private affairs. This device is a blessing bequeathed to us from Allah. Our duty is to express gratitude for what we’ve been given, and to use this blessing for doing good for the general good of everyone.