that time, the walls of the houses were not so high. Once, he was passing by houses where a woman asked other women: Hurry up, get into the houses; a young man is coming. On hearing this, the other women said: O dear! He is Sayyiduna Aswad bin Kulsoom رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه. His gaze does not rise from the ground, then how will he fix his gaze on a strange woman?

(‘Uyoon-ul-Hikayaat, pp. 329)

I will never look up

Sayyiduna Majma’ رَحْمَةُ اللهِ تَعَالٰی عَلَيْه once looked up and his gaze unintentionally fell on a woman on a roof. He immediately lowered his eyes and felt so ashamed that he vowed to never look up again. (Ihya-ul-‘Uloom, vol. 5, pp. 141)

Dear Islamic brothers! Shamefulness and modesty are very beautiful attributes, but unfortunately nowadays the new styles of sins have destroyed modesty. Shame and modesty are being lost. The friendship between young boys and girls in the name of studying together in co-education institutes for ‘higher education’ is destroying faith. The Hereafter is being destroyed by making contacts with each other in many types of non-Shar’i manners through mobile phones, the internet and social media.

Of course, now it is not confined to only talking to each other on cell phones, but now pictures of each other are also being taken. Now مَـعَـاذَ الـلّٰـه عَـزَّوَجَـلَّ songs and music are heard with great amusement on many occasions, such as on Eids, on Independence Day, sometimes by imitating non-Muslims in the name of ‘Valentine’s Day’, and sometimes in the name of ‘April Fool’, sometimes in the name of kite-flying, even in the name of a child’s birthday. It means that shamelessness and immodesty are in full swing. مَـعَـاذَ الـلّٰـه عَـزَّوَجَـلَّ, unveiling women wear make-up and thus invite people to gaze at them. Now whether we travel by bus or train, by coach or aeroplane, it has become extremely difficult to stay safe from the sights of shamelessness and immodesty. May Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ protect our faith and bless us with the Qufl-e-Madinah of the tongue, eyes, ears and the other parts of our body!