Hypothetical situation
Ahmed is at his favorite restaurant, hanging out with his buddies after a hard day's work. It's an eatery he and his pals have frequented for years, due to its great food, convenient location, and inviting atmosphere. They all love the place because it gives them the opportunity to unwind, relax, interact with old friends and get acquainted with new ones. Everyone is happy until one day an old nemesis of Ahmed decides to shake things up a little. He approaches the management, informing them that he and a group of friends want to host a bash at the restaurant, with the theme being: "Everybody Insult Ahmed's Mother Day," where all of the guests at the party will be encouraged to think of different creative ways to insult Ahmed's mother. Astonishingly, the management grants this request, and allows the restaurant to be used as the venue for this event.
In your opinion, what should Ahmed do:
A. Continue to be a loyal patron of the restaurant, as if nothing happened
B. Boycott the restaurant only on the day of the event, and resume being a regular customer thereafter
C. Permanently cut off all ties with the restaurant in protest of allowing such an uncouth and revolting event to take place
If Ahmed chooses "A" or "B", what does that say about the level of love and respect he has for his mother? Would anyone in their right mind continue to visit to a place that allowed this offense at such a personal level?
Now let's flip the switch from hypothetical to real. "The restaurant" is facebook, "Ahmed" is every Muslim on facebook, and it is not anyone's mother who was insulted, rather it is someone whom we must love more than our mother, our father, our children, and ourselves – the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Alhamdu Lillah, a number of Muslims deactivated their facebook accounts due to this event, and I ask Allah to reward them for that. What bothers me, however, is the staggering number of Muslims whose love for facebook is so intense, that the farthest they are willing to go is to shun facebook for one day, resuming its use thereafter. A lot of these same people were firmly resolute in boycotting Danish products when the original cartoons were published in 2006, but they are unwilling to deal the same blow to facebook that they dealt to the Danish economy. Why is that?
Abandoning the purchase of goods made in Denmark was something that was commendable, but at the same time it was easy to do and caused minimal hardship, if any at all. "Oh, Andersen's chocolate ice cream is Danish? No problem, we'll just switch to Breyer's." Alhamdu Lillah it was effortless and painless to forsake Danish goods, due to easily available alternatives. But the words "effortless" and "painless" cannot share the stage with the word "sacrifice." And that is the fundamental difference between the amply participated in, highly successful campaign against Danish products, and the half-hearted calls for a mere 24 hour boycott of facebook. The former required no real sacrifice, whereas the latter does. And when one is forced to choose between making a sacrifice or not, he cannot hide where his loyalties lie.
Unfortunately, facebook has become an addiction to so many people, Muslims included, and quitting it cold turkey is not a simple task for everyone. But if someone fears Allah, and truly loves His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) Allah will make his matters easy.
May Allah give us the Iman and strength to stand up for Islam, no matter what sacrifices that may entail.
