Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Grow Mama Grow

Home
About
Contact
All Posts
- Islamophobia and The Prophets: What We Can Learn
- Is Islamophobia a Reality at School? How to Talk to Your Kids About It
  - There’s a Used Condom on My Door Handle: Hate Crimes and the Burden of Proof

Home
Muslim
Facebook and The Book

Facebook and The Book

Last updated on: February 6, 2012 at 5:00 am by Admin GrowMama

Facebook and The Book 2012-02-06T05:00:53-04:00 Admin GrowMama

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

About three years ago I was taking a class at the Hartford Seminary titled, “Answering the Big Questions: An Approach Towards Philosophical Theology.” It was taught by the former dean of the Seminary, Dr. Ian Markham. It was a thought provoking class especially since it was taught from a belief in God perspective (as opposed to the philosophy courses I took as an undergraduate). Towards the end of the semester we spoke about eschatology, or how our faith traditions view the end of time. Of course, through the Qur’an and Hadith, we find very powerful imagery about the Hereafter. We know how close the sun will be to us, how our limbs and appendages will either be a witness for us or against us, how we will either receive our Book in our right hand or our left…

Wait, what?!

“So, Marwa, do you REALLY think you will be receiving a physical book in your hand?,” my Professor asked incredously.

“uhh, ye-ees,” I responded with some hesitation.

Hmm…okay, it’s true that I don’t know what the books will look like.

But I am certain that our books will contain everything we’ve ever done. It’s our record, sealed and exact. From the Qur’an, we find clear injunctions:

(It will be said to him): “Read your book. You yourself are sufficient as a reckoner against you this Day,” (Suraht al Israa, aya 14).

“On the Day when We summon each community, along with its leader, those who are given their record in their right hand will read it [with pleasure]. But no one will be wronged in the least,” (Suraht al Israa, aya 71).

“You will see the Mujrimun (criminals, polytheists, sinners, etc.), fearful of that which is (recorded) therein. They will say: “Woe to us! What sort of Book is this that leaves neither a small thing nor a big thing, but has recorded it with numbers!” (Suraht al Kahf, aya 49)

Leaves neither a small nor a big thing…

I have been reflecting more and more on my own book and what it will contain. I am praying that there will be more good in it than bad and I know all too well that there is no screen unless Allah chooses to erase or hide my flaws. When my professor asked me if I believed that we would be receiving a book, I answered with initial hesitation since imagining billions of books falling from the sky seems extraordinary, but if I reflect just a little bit deeper, it’s clear that to some degree, we already have books that reveal our life story.

Facebook. It even has the word Book in it. Every status update, every “like” button that we press, every comment that we make, every link that we share is there for the world to witness. Our life is becoming ever more transparent and in some ways we want our lives to be on display. “That photo is facebook worthy,” we catch ourselves saying.

The intention of this post is not to delineate the pros and cons of facebook, there are plenty of posts that do a fine job of that. The intention of this post is to have us deeply reflect on the intentional book that we are creating (filled with our own filters and screens- showing only tidbits about us that we deem appropriate to share) and the book that is being filled by the angels on our right and our left without delete buttons, x’s that make words magically disappear, or pencils with erasers.

How aligned are our two books?

There was a study done stating that there may be a correlation between depression and social network usage as teens and adolescents display the positives of their lives- accomplishments, popularity, travels, gifts etc. with their friends while filtering out anything that potentially may make them unpopular.

So long as the individual is in control of the book, facebook will very rarely give a full, holistic picture of a person. I wonder if on the Day of Judgment us facebook users will be more shocked than the rest of humanity when we see our flaws on record since we did such a good job of hiding them during our time on Earth.

With Facebook, we control our destiny by choosing what to display and filtering out what we don’t want the rest of the world to see.

With The Book, we control our destiny with the actions we take, small and large, recorded without the involvement of our self esteem or egos. Pure and unadulterated.

Would I be ready to see such a book? Would you?

Marwa Aly

Marwa Aly currently serves as a Muslim chaplain and is a mother to one wonderful daughter.

Self-development

facebook

judgment day in islam

Marwa Aly

Previous Post

February 2, 2012

Center Stage

Next Post

February 9, 2012 Letting Grow

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book and Movie Reviews Community Connecting with Allah Counselor's Corner Environment fatherhood five stars GrowBaba Spotlight GrowMama Picks Growmama Roundup Health Light Fare marriage Motherhood Reflections moving Parenthood Photography Poems Schooling Self-development tragedy Tutorials Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 November 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What nation took Israel into captivity in 722 BC?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Assyria Egypt Persia Babylon