Ramadan will coast along for some and not so much for others – depending on specific circumstances. All in all, may Allah ease our affairs and grant us the blessings of our feeble efforts at pleasing HIM.
There are many things we are entreated to shun during Ramadan. To shun them and to cultivate better attitudes more especially for the post-Ramadan period.
A decade ago, social media would not have made the list of things to avoid in the month of Ramadan. Roll on the years, it is a key marker when Ramadan comes along.
But really, the pros and cons of social media in and even outside of Ramadan is hinged on the mode of use by a person. As it is for any neutral structure, the negative or positive effect it produces is squarely the prerogative of the person in charge.
But how many of us ever sat down to draw a plan for how they set out to use say Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp et. al. in the month of Ramadan? It seems that for many, the pre-Ramadan use is the same mode in which they continue to run affairs on that rather “slippery” arena.
The position that people should shut out social media would most likely be met with the “fightback” that it can be used for good, sharing Ramadanic material and exhorting people to do good with reminders, cautions and what have you, this I 100% agree with!
Problem: Exactly because many of us hardly plan out our use of social media, the everyday idle talk and overindulgence, which comes with consequences is prominent in our dealings. Idle talk simply means “idle or foolish and irrelevant talk.”
The guidelines of idle talk are all but clearly streamlined in Islamic text – Quran and Sunnah. Among others: talking about people behind their back, casting insinuations, maligning and dragging people in the mud.
Indeed, in the case of some people, there is an out and out overspill where they openly insult – something expressly frowned upon in a hadith (saying of the Prophet Mohammed). As at 2018 this time, people on Ghana's social media space were raving mad with posts on one violent Muniru and the Kwesi Nyantakyi corruption exposé saga.
Many wake up all emotional and join the social media highway speeding, overspeeding at a point and damning the consequences. The dodgy posts and fishy “shares” are all symptomatic of a lack of social media preparedness before Ramadan.
My little social media policy has been kinda “silly” if you may but the thought that Facebook, whatsapp and Twitter could go down – as has been the case in the past…
The fact that the data companies could have issues with service provision and even that our phones could be faulty or get lost, shows that we must all cultivate the habit of self-policing. Weigh the use and or otherwise of social media and cut down if need be.
The fact is that many are stuck on here than they are to the Quran – mind you, we are in the month of Qur'an. It is social media that can eat cumulative 2 hours of a day yet we struggle with 30 minutes of Qur’an and forget of Azkaar – remembrance of Allah.
As we launch into this blessed period, it is not too late to switch gears and change lanes. Plan the social media “show.” Don’t you bow to the fact that others are here, if you need to check out, please do. There is plenty of life beyond social media.
And whiles at it make it a point to pray for the underprivileged Muslims across the world, it’s the best Ramadan gift you and I can give to them.
May HE continually ease the affairs of the Ummah (Islamic community), idle talk and overindulgence on social media is a reality, very much like a priest in a sacristy – Wai Allah, I remember my St. Thomas Aquinas school days.
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