idle mind is the devil's playground

The saying is actually: idle hands is the devil's playground. But sometimes, i think having bad thoughts is bad enough.

I was prompted to write this once i got a tweet from one of the twitters that i follow. i follow IslamicThinking. Im new to this whole twitter thing, and i just realised that IslamicThinking is a man, based in the UK. What he does is, he shares hadith, sunnah, stories of the Prophet and any motivating anecdote. I dont know if he is an Ustaz or not. But it really doesnt matter. i think he is doing a good thing in his own subtle way. one small step, one giant leap for mankind? what im trying to say is, though it may seem like a tiny effort, but the stories he shares can move n inspire others to do good. just as it has inspired me.

one of the tweets that i really liked went something like this:

we should spend more time refining and improving our lives so we wud hv less time so scrutinize n criticise others

i think we should really try and apply this principle in our life. from my years on this earth, i have noticed that some ppl are so full of hate. they occupy themselves with stalking the blogs and fb and friendster (as it was the craze back then) of the ppl they hate. they will go through every single picture, analyse every single detail. read the person's post.

after so much effort, they criticize the person. make all sorts of conclusions about the person. back bite about that person to others. attempt to influence others into hating that same person. its really a sad situation.

what i always wondered is this: if that person is someone you hate so much, why would u go through such lengths to search the blog, the fb page, etc and gather 'information' on that person? why waste your time n effort over someone you hate? just so you can assemble with others and discuss your criticisms and dissatisfaction over that person?

i dont see the point in doing that. in wasting time and energy over someone you hate so much. if you hate so much, then just delete the person. problem solved. no irritation, no annoyance, no reason to get angry over what he or she said or did or wore or tweeted and what not. delete the person, dont search for the person, dont occupy your time bckbiting about the person. it'll save you some sin, and probably gain you some pahala too.

thats why i really loved that tweet which i quoted above. it is my hope n prayer that people would try to occupy their lives and their time improving themselves, instead of wasting that energy hating criticizing and condemning others.

no one is perfect. maybe a person may annoy u, maybe you may disagree, and the like, but i think HATE is a very strong emotion. and i think personally that one should try to overcome the feeling of annoyance. get annoyed in your own head, frown about it, and: GET OVER IT. why keep a grudge for so long? why hold on to that seed of hate and let it grow in your heart, and help it grow in the heart of others?

In the Qur'an (41: 34) it is stated: "repel the evil with one which is better [ie Allah ordered the faithful believers to be patient at the time of anger, and to excuse those who treat them badly], then verily! He, between whom and you there was enmity, [will become] as though he was a close friend."

I think I should, I think we ALL should really try to focus on what is important in this world and the hereafter. instead of backbiting and spreading rumours or unflattering accounts about someone to others, we should keep silent. why say anything if there is nothing nice to say?

and even if another person has done something bad to you, I hope we all can find it in our hearts to forgive. I have had my fair share of terrible experiences. I have had a mean boss scream at me for every little thing that was NOT my fault, i have had 'friends' who pretend to like me but were actually harboring ill feelings the whole time, I have had a stalker who made it a point to hurt me at a time when i was most vulnerable. All these people, i may have hated at a time. But all these people, I forgave. In time. I learned to let it go. Because I realise that living with that kind of hate is tiring, consuming. I didnt want to live with the negative energy. So i got rid of it in my own time.

I pray for us all, and for myself included that we may all fill our times with the good, and leave the bad behind us. I hope and pray that sooner or later, this sick practice of hating condemning and criticizing others for the smallest shortcomings like: not inviting to a birthday party, wearing a red baju kurung to work, being too rich and having a nice car, getting promoted over you when you felt you deserved it more, etc etc..i hope this practice will soon fizzle out of our lives when we maximize the hours in our day with doing acts of kindness, however small, and improving our relationship with Allah, our family and our friends. When we keep busy with all of this good effort, insyaAllah i think we will have no time to find the fault in others.