While private leaked videos of the pop-singer Rabi Pirzada are still the subject of hot debate on Social Media, another campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #iamrabipirzada has started to show solidarity with the singer in a way that the forerunners are sharing their naked photographs and luring others to do the same without realizing the fact that their action is against all norms and values of a social fabric and it could pose a threat to religious principles, too. This is not an appropriate way to protest, sympathize and stand with the victim especially a woman cannot post her uncovered photos. A woman is the name of shyness, reserved entity and the name of honor. When God has made you honorable, why are you boomeranging by dishonoring yourself? Allah (SWT) says in the Holy Book:
“O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the clothing of righteousness - that is best. That is from the signs of Allah that perhaps they will remember.” Al-A`raf 7:26
Which law has given you the right to go wild and reveal nudity? It’s okay, nobody points at finger at you when you sing, act, perform in a live concert, but it is really not okay to reveal your nude identity and provide the multitudes with an opportunity to talk rubbish about your individuality. Should you want to show something to people, show them your womanhood, your grace, your elegance and your pride, show them how civilized you are and how upright and noble is the family you belong to, prove them that a woman is brave and her bravery is to silence all the negative voices through her intellectual powers, through her decency and through her noble character. When even in movies such scenes are not allowed and go through censorship, then why people exhibit vulgarity on Social Media? Is there no one to censure you and tell you that it is wrong? Why your friends, your colleagues and most importantly your family can’t stop you from doing this? Can’t you stop yourself from transgressing further? Truly, this is not freedom, this is not the platform to expose yourself and then claim that you are a humanist, this is not a way to cover up the loss that Rabi is suffering. Why don’t you think that people are eyeing on your undressed body with a greed and lust, which is disgraceful? Don’t you feel the shame for this bare voluptuousness and for this animalism?
Here is what Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran:
“And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimār over their breasts and not display their beauty except to their husband, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments.” (Quran 24:31)
Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said about shame "Among that which reached the people from the words of the earlier prophethood: If you feel no shame, then do whatever you wish." (Bukhari)
“Do whatever you wish" is just the apparent meaning of the words. Rather its actual connotation is to that of condemnation or prohibition of doing that. It is a threat or a warning that if you don’t have shame, then do whatever you wish and Allah will decide about it. In another Hadith, Prophet (PBUH) said that faith is some seventy odd parts and shame is one of the parts of faith.
We humans are different from animals and our nature does not allow us to let others see our nakedness. Moreover, we are not living in olden times where people in caves used to dwell nakedly because the civilization in that time of life had not matured enough. But, today it is a new age and nations around the world have evolved their civic life. There are certain principles which we as citizens of the society are duty-bound to abide by. And you cannot give this right to people because some rights like right to live and right to die are not transferrable to others. Similarly, you cannot depict yourself nude openly as the existing laws reserve the right to exercise their power against you. Isn’t there any other way to show solidarity with the victim instead of revealing nudity. A lot of ways are there to solidarize with others as such meeting in person and consoling the victim, helping to get the FIR lodged against the offender, get them arrested, launching a good campaign to convince people to delete the controversial videos, which are still in the storage of mobile devices of millions of people who are uploading it time and again.
Abd al-Rahman, the son of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, reported from his father that the Prophet said, “A man should not see the private parts of another man, and a woman should not see the private parts of another woman, and a man should not lie with another man under one covering, and a woman should not lie with another woman under one covering” (Sahih Muslim).
Without a doubt, Rabi didn’t deserve the treatment she has received from the people so far, but what she did is condemnable, yet forgivable. We all are human beings and none of us can claim to be perfectionist and free of flaws. We all commit crimes, sins and demonstrate a highly unacceptable behavior, but instead of condemning ourselves, we criticize others and always see flaws in them. To err is human, to forgive divine. Let’s forgive and forget and then move on as Rabi Pirzada has already begged for forgiveness and she has also bid farewell to the glamorous world of showbiz. Sticking to our stubbornness by not showing willingness to remove the scandalous stuff stored in cellular devices would mean that we have crossed all limits of humanity and that we have lost the right to be called as responsible citizens and the followers of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who had forbidden us to loathe an individual just because he or she is a sinner. The hatred should be for the sin he or she has committed, but not for the sinner, who is a human being, goes the interpretation of the Hadith. In another Hadith, the Prophet (PBUH) said that when a person reconnects with Allah, feels sorry for what he or she has done and properly repents for the wrongdoings, Allah (SWT) shows His mercy on that person and forgives.
"And whoever does a wrong or wrongs himself, but then seeks forgiveness from Allah, he will find Allah forgiving and merciful." [Quran, 4:110]
It is true that the doors of repentance would remain open until the sun rises from the west. But, it is also true that Allah pardons, but we His slaves are not ready to forgive our fellow human beings. We need to ponder over our behaviors. Not to talk of religion, people even are not ready to respect fundamental human values. What has happened to us? Why are we losing the good sense of humanity and turning savages with the passage of time? Remember if you keep up storing the appalling videos with the intention that you will watch them later or upload them again on any social site, you are more likely to be a morally corrupt and worst sinner than the person whose videos got leaked by mistake. Let’s try to be good people and responsible citizens by removing all such negative stuff, which is hazardous to our mental health.
It is also an act of irresponsibility that the videos got leaked that could have been avoided by a little effort; that when you were selling out your phone, you needed to confirm if any data was still in its storage. You must have removed it prior to handing it over to a second party. But, we noticed you didn’t do so and now you are complaining about public reaction. Precaution is necessary for all those people who make such stuff and then store it in their devices, which could be damaged or lost any time. If you fail to protect sensitive private data, it would really destroy you, people won’t bother who you are and how influential or big star you are on Social Media. Rather people are always in search of ‘spicy stories’ and they invite others to watch it. Now-a-days, this is happening everywhere due to the revolutionized world of Social Media where human privacy is coping with serious threats. Threats from friends, threats from social media followers, and threats from family members. Who should we trust that they will not infringe our privacy? Who should we trust that they are as good people as we are because they just look like others? Who should we make our ideals when any time they can betray us, throw cold water on our aspirations and murder our feelings that we have for them? If you are in showbiz and a public figure, there are more responsibilities on your shoulders; responsibilities because you claim to be doing the service of the art, serving the country and bringing joys to peoples’ lives. And if you show irresponsibility by letting people take a look at your personal life, you are likely to endanger established norms and values of the society. You are a rebellion and your actions will divide the people. In doing so, you will be giving the message to public that it is okay to be undressed and indulging in an inappropriate boldness that could play with the feelings of those hundreds of thousands of people especially young girls who follow you and derive inspiration from you. If Rabi Prizada committed the sin, the matter is to be dealt with by Allah who has to decide it, not you and me to do so. We just can give our positive or negative feedback and that too must not hurt the feelings of the victim. After all, she has the right to live her life in accordance with her own choices.
Today, we are patterning a weird behavior and immorality is terrifically desensitizing this behavior. Pornography and sexually explicit images which are the marks of the internet, are unfortunately accessible ceaselessly thus negatively affecting our daily lives. Good, bad, right, wrong, sin, morality, decency, decadence are being redefined time and again showing our mental affinity that where are we moving on. For the sake of rights and preferences, we are changing everything, every rule, every virtue and every noble tradition that was once in practice. Do's and don'ts that were in practice since long are now commonplace and open. Nudity and scantily-clad bodies are being deemed as expressions of art and as personal matter be it viral on Social Media. Promoting nudity knowingly and intentionally is strictly prohibited, the religious and the country’s laws do not give permission for indulging in this provocative behavior. However, you are free to do anything you want all behind closed doors. But, publicly you have to ensure that you are not going against the established norms and values of the society. If you do so it will be considered a rebellion against the society and fundamental human tenets. You have no right to hurt feelings of people by featuring controversial stuff. Think hundred times before you do so. Ask yourself would it be okay if you are a woman or even a man that your unclothed body organs be seen by others? Most importantly, what will be your feelings when you come to know that your privacy has been infringed? Look at the pitiable condition of Rabi Pirzada, how she felt, burst into tears and was heard that she was quitting the showbiz world. Of course, developing suicidal feelings may be one of the reactions, yet it is strictly prohibited in Islam and it is more abhorrent act than the negative stuff going viral on Social Media, it is more awful than debauchery or prostitution. Because God has not allowed anyone to take their own life.
“Do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful.” (Qur`an 4: 29).
Thabit Ibn Al-Dahak narrated that the Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] said, “Whosoever kills himself with anything in this world will be tortured with it on the Day of Judgment.” (Sahih of Bukhari and the Sahih of Muslim)
Some people on Social Media gave the comments that Rabi Pirzada should be given no right to live on this ‘pious land’. Again this is ridiculous and unacceptable. Who has authorized you to pass on such negative comments and decide the fate of people? Are you yourself a flawless and totally innocent and pious person? Tell me how many culprits, dishonest and morally corrupt people have been expelled by the state? What about terrorists who are still at large? As a matter of fact, the law and the religious teachings do not allow us to insult a human being just because he or she made a terrible mistake or indulged in a sinful act.
Moreover, if you degrade a woman, call her with evil names, make fun of her, then you are likely to show of your inner empty side, you are showing that you are not familiar with social and religious ethics. It is a pity that women in our society are not tolerated no matter whether they beg our pardon, regret for what they have done and ask for forgiveness. We are not ready to forgive people and overlook their mistakes because we assume ourselves as perfectionists and as the authority to punish or forgive. Our established values and our beliefs that were in practice since long are dying bit by bit pushing the society toward the darkness and old age. Remember today you are caricaturing a person and not willing to let it go, tomorrow your yourself or any of your dear one could experience this situation. To conclude, it is the responsibility of every Muslim man and woman to be high alert surfing on Social Media or storing in sensitive personal data.
"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters, and the believing women, to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies. That will be better that they should be known (as respectable woman) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." -Al-Ahzab:59 (Qur'an)