Ilm Week Prostitution
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Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes
It’s really interesting the kind of comments that come about when mentioning a social ill in society. The following was tweeted to Facebook at around midnight and in a short amount of time has insighted quite a few comments.
There are more comments than what you see here. You can click on the image.
Now for some Ilm Week updates!
- I found out last night that Sensei (Muhammad Alshareef) isn’t going to be able to make it. Qadr Allah. That puts a wrench in our commercial filming idea.
- Never eat Boston Pizza for dinner (see link for more info) – update – turns out you need to be in my friend on Facebook to see the link. Just hit me up with a friend request
- I forgot to bring one of the camer’s power adapter. Batt is dead. Had it FedExed over from NJ to Toronto. Got held up in customs, then FedEx didn’t release it to the address it was sent because my name was on the TO address and I wasn’t there to retrieve it. Today I have to pick it up from the FedEx center!
The following dialog took place at the end of Sh Waleed’s halaqah:
Keep the engagement short. Two to three days and move on!
No no. I’m in favor of a longer engagement period.
Comon shaykh! That’s not fair! It’s like having a peice of chocolate in front of you and not being able to eat it!
I don’t think you’ll get chocolate. It’ll probably be caramel.
HAYTHAM: (looking at Ammar then looking to Sh Waleed)
I’ll take anything shaykh!
eshev Says: 22.05.09 at 8:17 am
Asalaam alaikum, re: the boston pizza thing, the link just directs to your facebook and not the story (prly works if the person is your friend on FB tho)
Basil Mohamed Gohar Says: 22.05.09 at 8:24 am
I haven’t read all the comments in the screenshot above, but I just wanted to post a tip – when posting an image that consists mostly of either solid colors, line art, or text, PNG is superior format than JPEG. Notice the blurriness & artifacts in each block of text. Additionally, it’s likely the PNG file will be smaller.
AlBaraa Says: 22.05.09 at 8:43 am
@Eshev
Thanks for the heads up. Just send me a friend request on Facebook.
@ Basil
Thanks for the tip. I realized that only after I save the pic to JPG. When you’re using MS Paint and you save, there’s no going back!
eshev Says: 22.05.09 at 8:53 am
What if someone is not on FB tho? I am rly curious re the pizza thing, maybe just give me the summary
AlBaraa Says: 22.05.09 at 9:02 am
Well, for those not on facebook – I tweeted the following message the morning after I had the Boston Pizza dinner, “Travel tip: keep your dinner simple and light. Boston Pizza ravaged my stomach. I dont feel too good. Time for a banana.”
What was really insightful to me was one of the twitter replies I got from Yusuf (@yclack) saying, “@khanb1 – excellent tip! Now aren’t we in this life as travelers? Food for thought…
”
eshev Says: 22.05.09 at 9:07 am
Jazak Allah khair for sharing
HK Says: 22.05.09 at 2:09 pm
not really surprised at the comments – or that it comes from women. most women will know someone who may have been forced to prostitute or been a victim of sexual exploitation. prostitution, in and of itself, is usually understood in the “business” context and is even referred to as the world’s oldest “profession”. it has been the means of “living” women would turn to out of desperation (widowed, slavery, divorced) as it’s a quick way to make a buck – especially where your life depends on it. as early as Sunday school days we were taught that one of the reasons Muslim men are encouraged to marry widowed/divorced women (or take them as 2nd, 3rd, 4th wives) is so that those women are not forced to prostitute in order to provide for themselves or their families. i believe surah al-Ahzab addresses the topic somewhat…. allahua’lam – i’ll try to find it later.
desperate circumstances lead to desperate measures. in this century (er… last one, too) legalizing prostitution has been an ongoing debate in the name of “boosting the economy”. today, sex trafficking is getting to be a VERY serious issue and one that is putting the lives of many women and young girls in danger. this is a reality that very few are aware of… and automatically look like they’re “sympathizers” for bringing it up and not focusing on the nature of the sin itself. allahua’lam.
i think, however, Muslims need to look beyond the whole “judgment” thing. i doubt what’s been accounted above (the economic aspect) has much to do with the shaykh’s comment AS A WHOLE. we’re in a society where everything is about sensual pleasure. there are bars and brothel houses galore. playboy models are pop stars, thus condoning pornography…astaghferAllah. i honestly think that the shaykh was addressing the MEN more so than these women – but khayr, defensiveness is the default of human emotions
so long as there is a demand and desire for something, supply will always exist. diminish the service by cutting off the want of it – so the underlying message here, in my opinion, is that men need to exert more self-control and stay away from that which will not only lead them to sin, but make them a player in supporting the existence of something illegal, immoral, and degrading. maybe putting it in the context that the shaykh did makes a man think twice about going near anything like it, Allahua’lam.
HK Says: 22.05.09 at 2:10 pm
surah Noor* not Ahzab… sorry…
Sara K Says: 23.05.09 at 2:29 pm
There’s much that can be said about the comment made towards prostitutes. I’ll try to keep it short.
It’s grossly disporportionate to equate prostitutes/prostitution to pornography as you have indicated the sheikh was trying to allude to.
It is easy to say things that help us combat the ‘evil’ within ourselves and around us. But most often that not, I find the measures we take to do this are unjust towards a person, a people, or even a nation. It’s like wiping our garments clean while splashing filth on the bystander. We’re heavily engrossed as Muslims in cleaning up our own acts, but are completely disillusioned and misinformed about the acts of others and how it impacts us all on a global scale..or even as a social concern. We need to take the initiative to enlighten ourselves with regards to global oppression, (not just of people’s freedoms, but the choices they are granted), then maybe our statements will carry the weight of empathy towards others.
As far as prostitution is concerned, no woman dreams of violating her body and soul, health and dignity. Pornography on the other hand is not a fit comparison as these women AND men glorify sexuality and are willing victims of hedonism. That is not the case as far as prostitution is concerned. I also wonder why Men are given so much leeway whenever pornography or even prostitution are mentioned. There’s always a greater emphasis on the female participant. I’m in no way suprised that this talk was being delivered to ‘men’.
Allah swt knows best.
Wasalam
Adil Says: 27.05.09 at 3:30 pm
Assalamualaikum
I think all of you are taking the Shaykhs words out of context.
Lets not make it more than what it is.
It was an example he used in order to give an example of how we can abstain from pornography, prosititution etc. By attributing something filthy to them he was showing how we can reduce our desires for them.
As Belal stated, we were talking about Patience and Gratitude.
There was a section which talked about staying away from these desires, and how to have patience to stay away from them. The Shaykh said this example amongst others that will reduce desires. Others included putting a sticker in your care that says Fear Allah and whenever you are going to gaze at something outside the window then it reminds you about Allah. These are just examples, the shaykh I am sure was not trying to create any sort of statement.
W’Allahu Alim
Wassalamualaikum
AlBaraa Says: 27.05.09 at 11:02 pm
Jazakallahu khairun for the clarification Adil. You’re awesome.
Sara K Says: 30.05.09 at 2:42 am
I’ll take your word for it, even though I don’t sincerely doubt the shaykh’s intention. I cannot speak on his behalf, and neither can you. We all can just allude to what we’ve observed, and in this case the brothers present in the situation are at an advantage.
However, “By attributing something filthy to them he was showing how we can reduce our desires for them.” ..is the kind of thing I was referring to. Attributing something filthy to the act is understandable, but not to the person engaging in the act, especially more so in sensitive circumstances. A person has many faces, many obstacles, many shortcomings too. But like I said.
Peace.