THE FIRST GLANCE!

Recent media reports have depicted the high level rot in our society. The war on the HIV and AIDs pandemic has proven to be more difficult to fight than initially envisaged. The paradox in this war is that; government and non-governmental organisations are not tackling the real roots of the pandemic.

Islam principally works to solve the root causes of problems. As we anxiously read that Muslim youth in higher learning institutions have succumbed to their base desires and ostensibly thrown caution to the wind, Muslim clergy and parents alike are concerned. Likewise should the youth be worried about decadence in our moral standards or be alarmed by the lack of precaution thereby seeing our youth go early to their graves!

The twenty first century has imposed a life style that is alien to our values. This lifestyle has eroded modesty. The first glance from either of the sexes is endemic, although seen as harmless, it is indeed the precursor to much heartache, swirling feelings of lust and ultimately committing zinā. Today’s women are so liberated that in the wake of enjoying their hard earned freedom, expose their nakedness to all who care to look. The question is why are they exposing their bodies to strangers? I can clearly hear the feminist swearing at my seemingly narrow mindedness!

Muslims in their endeavour to ‘fit’ into the modern culture are reeling in an abyss of conflicting cultures, We often ask ourselves, albeit in our minds, ‘is lowering our gaze necessary’ or challenge the Quranic verse perceiving it to be too strict. In our own homes, we do not practice lowering our gaze; women and non-mahrim men sit across each other talking, watching nudity, and zinā in the name of entertainment. This discussion might seem misplaced and out of touch in our times except by those who Allah has mercy on. Our children are nurtured from conception to their teens witnessing illicit relationships, programs aired on TV carefully designed to corrupt and instil the misleading philosophy of unlimited ‘rights’ and ‘liberties’ regardless of religious beliefs.

There is a difference between a glance at the opposite sex and a repeated or steady gaze. Whereas a glance ordinarily would not affect the heart, repeated glances unwrap the beauty and plant the first seed of lust. The feeling of wanting to always get a glimpse and to interact with the other person engulfs the heart, and when this happens one feels elated and looks for opportunities. Muslim scholars have defined the first glance as the ‘abrupt glance’; meaning it was unintentional conversely, the ‘other’ glance(s) is a sin.

Jabir ibn Abdillah radhiallahu says; ‘I asked Allah’s messenger swala llahu alaihi wa salam about the abrupt glance! He told me to turn my face away’. A man related to Muslim scholars; ‘I fell in love with a girl at the first glance! Should I look at her again, maybe I will see what repulses me from her?’ The scholars said to him; ‘It is haram, Allah has commanded you to lower your gaze, and has not put any cure in haram’

The eyes are the gates to the heart; if one lowers his gaze he stops any illness from accessing the heart, however, if one leaves his eyes to wonder he will surely suffer from diseases of the heart ranging from lust to nifaāq or ‘hypocrisy’.
All our tribulations stem from this first glance; how many people’s hearts are enslaved in this way? The glance is the simplest and most dangerous way to fall into sin. Lowering our gaze stops us from zinā. We perceive zinā to be the act outside wedlock while we do engage in zinā everyday oblivious of the sin. The Prophet says peace be upon him; "The zinā of the eyes is the gaze (at which is unlawful, e.g. nudity); the zinā of the ears is to listen (to the unlawful, e.g. talks of nudity which excite illicit desires, music, etc.); the zinā of the tongue is to speak (what is evil); the zinā of the hand is to touch (the female or male who is unlawful to you); the zinā of the feet is to walk (towards unlawful); the zinā of the heart is to desire (what is unlawful) and it is the private parts which either commit or shuns the actual act of fornication/adultery." [Saheeh Muslim]

The hadeeth testifies that the gaze is the first act of zinā, the fact that the Prophet peace be upon him has mentioned it first signifies its importance in the sequence of events leading to the actual act of fornication or adultery. Looking at the opposite sex is not allowed save for reasons permissible under the shariāh like where identification is requisite. The intention obviously has to be good.

Not lowering our gaze has plunged many of us into irreversible situations. Adherence to the sunnah safeguards our hearts from a myriad of diseases and has numerous benefits.
Whoever abstains from this seemingly harmless behaviour for the sake of Allah subhaanahu wa ta’ala with sincerity may at first experience hardship. He or she should not despair, as this is merely a test of his conviction, sincerity, and genuineness. If he or she patiently exhorts him/or herself to keep away, the hardship will turn into happiness. He who leaves something for the sake of Allah, Allah rewards him in its place with a better alternative.

These alternatives are;-
(a) Drawing close to Allah
(b) Attaining Allah’s love and pleasure
(c) Attaining tranquillity and a strengthened relationship with Allah
(d) Further to attaining success in this world and in the hereafter, Allah protects one from his own base desires through His mercy, granting him the taste of emān, and desire for Allah’s pleasure so long as his heart is filled with none except Allah.
(e) Among the gifts conferred by Allah to those who lower their gaze for His sake is; solid emān and part of the taste of emān is modesty. It said; ‘The taste of modesty is more intense and more gratifying than the taste of sins’. This taste creates a nūr ‘light’ and radiance on the face of the believer. Allah protects and wards off from him any avenues leading to sin.
(f) Allah confers on them firāsa or ‘foresight’; a ‘sixth sense’ and acuteness to discern truth from falsehood. The Ulama say; ‘One who publicly adorns his life with sunnah and privately, with fear of Allah thereby lowering his gaze from witnessing haram, and protecting himself from shubuhāt ‘doubtful matters’, and keeping Allah’s commandments, his firāsa will never be wrong’.
(g) Allah strengthens their emān, ‘He who disobeys his desires Satan fears his shadow’
(h) Allah enhances their mental faculties, while those who arbitrarily let their eyes wander have a low perception and are unable to foresee outcomes. The principle role of the brain is to discern and judge, if one cannot see the effects of letting loose his eyes surely he is shallow.
(i) Allah opens means to acquire knowledge and eases its pursuit.

These benefits underpin the importance of lowering our gaze; however, the question is how can we practise this religious obligation? Apparently we witness harām ‘twenty four seven’
Muslim scholars have decreed that; ‘among Allah’s favours and mercies on his servants is, the door of tauba ‘forgiveness’, when Allah intends good for his servant he guides him to this door for a sin he committed.
A Muslim might repent from viewing harām, ostensibly most of us regress to the sin again and again. Why not, the temptation is beckoning from everywhere we set our eyes, free mixing with each human ‘devil’ undertaking to outdo the other in exposing itself!
The obligation on each one of us is to seek Allah’s forgiveness; the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him used to seek Allah’s forgiveness more than a hundred times a day, and we are not guaranteed forgiveness until Allah’s sees the sincerity in our hearts no matter how many times we commit the sin.
Let each Muslim assist his Muslim brother and sister to keep the commands of Allah by adhering to the Islamic code of dressing and behaviour and seek forgiveness from Allah for the past sins. We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an accident but a habit.

© 2009 Badru Jaffar Swaleh

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