Selfie with the Kaaba

Selfie with the Kaaba

Of late, with the ubiquitous presence of smartphones and their high resolution cameras, people have developed the habit of ‘capturing the moment’ on their phones. Gone are the days when a person would think twice before exhausting every film of his 36-film Kodak role. These days, people just keep clicking at will. Wherever, whenever, whoever. The selfie culture has become so overwhelming that we can hardly come across a recreational or tourist place where selfies are not becoming an eyesore.

And while this can be excused when it comes to recreational and tourist places, it should not be so in places of worship. Pilgrimage is not a recreational tour. We don't go on a Hajj and Umrah ‘tour’. This tour word is a misnomer, and a blasphemy at that. But what we are witnessing today is an epidemic of selfies and video calling in the very mutaaf of the Haram, near the pulpit of the Prophet and in every conceivable and inconceivable area in and around the Harmain Sharifain.

This culture was not that obvious some years back. When I had been to the Harmain in 2012 for Hajj, people did not have as many smartphones. But some from SE Asia did carry cameras. I vividly remember many people clicking photographs of the Muazzin of Masjide Nabavi when he was calling out the azan. Flashes and more flashes beamed on his face. The Imam of Masjide Nabavi once stood up before prayers and appealed to the devotees to maintain due decorum. I found electronic signboards outside both masajid requesting the Hujjaj not to wear inappropriate clothes, not to wear loud perfume and not to click photographs. Yes, it did not mention selfies, because there was no concept of selfies then, they were at least not as common as they are now.

You see, the moment one wears the ehram and makes neeyah, he is in ibadat. And this state of ibadat continues till he is there in the holy land. Removing the ehram does not make Harmain a tourist spot either. Ziyarat of Harmain is also ibadat. And clicking photos in ibadat is not quite desirable. I would seem judgmental if I allege that people are showing off or are being pretentious. Maybe we have been programmed these days to click photos and capture the moment. But one needs to consciously show some restraint at certain places.

I once asked an Indian guard at the Masjide Nabavi why he did not stop people from clicking photographs in the Masjid? The reply he gave me has remained etched in my mind ever since. He told me that maybe other people would look at these photographs and be encouraged to come here. By looking at these photographs? I wondered if the Ummah has really reached this point of nadir where they need photographs of Turkish and Saudi architecture to attract them to the Harmain!

I understand that some people might feel offended at what I'm writing, but this is spreading like a plague. Keep your ibadat an ibadat. We don't click photos while in itikaaf, not in our local masjid, do we? At least not till this date. Hajj and Umrah are also acts of ibadat- the entire journey from your home to your home. It is not a tour. And this is precisely why we request people not to shop there. Just get Zamzam and some dates as tabarruk, but nothing more. May Allah keep our intentions pure and accept our Hajj and Umrah, and forgive us our sins of commission and omission.

Also, some things are best left between you and Allah; there is no need to post your acts of ibadah on social media.  While discussing the etiquettes of Hajj and Umrah in the 197th ayat of Surah alBaqarah, Allah says:

وَ مَا تَفۡعَلُوۡا مِنۡ خَیۡرٍ  یَّعۡلَمۡہُ اللّٰہُ 

He knows your acts of ibadah, and it is quite sufficient that He alone knows it. 

- Dr. Parvez Mandviwala