Imam al-Ghazali's Warning for Medsos Users

Themoderatemuslims.blogspot.co.id - The Internet certainly has not evolved during the generation of salafus shālih. However, human virtues and ugliness can be said to be similar in every age. In today's era of social medical floods, for example, the phenomenon of slander, gossip, false rumor, blasphemy, coachman debate, and the like are present - a phenomenon we also encountered in pre-Christian times

Though What may change is the social environment and the way it is used. When the negative phenomena were more often done through the mouth directly, now the ugliness is facilitated by the sophistication of modern technology, one of which is social media. In social media, the source of the ugliness comes from the hands or fingers that upload the writing, some form of images and video.

Social media becomes a very free space for expressing something in text form. People are very fond of commenting about anything. Become a problem when it turns out this expression is public and cause harm to others. This is where the negative side of social media emerges, in addition to its unlikely positive side.

Since there is no substantial difference of behavior in every age, we should also quote the counsel of the earlier scholars (salafus shâlih) to be a reflection and tightening of self in order not to fall into disgraceful deeds associated with this social-social phenomenon. Among the counsel of the book "Bidâyatul Hidâyah" by Imam al-Ghazali who said:

فاحفظهما عن أن تضرب بهما مسلما, أو تتناول بهما مالا حراما, أو تؤدي بهما أحدا من الخلق, أو تخون بهما في أمانة أو وديعة, أو تكتب بهما ما لا يجوز النطق به, فإن القلم أحد اللسانين, فاحفظ القلم عما يجب حفظ اللسان عنه

"And thou shalt keep both your hands from beating fellowmen
Muslims, get something that is forbidden, hurt fellow creatures
God, betrayed trust or entrustment of others, or write something that should not be spoken. Because qalam (pen, social media, red) is one of your two tongues you should keep your qalam from writing something that is forbidden to express it. "

Imam al-Ghazali advised when discussing the presence of hand guard. According to him, there are two kinds of tongues: tongue that is in the mouth and tongue in the form of qalam (pen). In the present context, qalam as a tool that produces writing can be equated with social media. Social media has a function similar to the mouth: a means of expressing the mind to the public. The effects and risks are not much different: harmful or happy, harmful or beneficial. The main reminder of al-Ghazali's statement is to avoid unlawful behavior in speech.

Earlier, in the same book, Imam al-Ghazali cautioned that everyone keep their tongues. Imam al-Ghazali lists eight bad behaviors caused by the tongue, including lying, cursing others, liking to argue, self-praise (narcissism), cursing, praying for the woe of others, and making fun of others. Seeing its tongue-like function, the warning should also apply to social media. You know

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