By and large, the magazines and newspapers of today are filled with the same things. Nearly every edition must have:
· How to lose weight (which gives or reinforces the complex within people that they will never be happy or successful unless they are slim and trim).
· Advertisements of the latest products and trendiest homes (which creates discontentment and greed in the heart as we fell that what Allah has already given us is not good enough).
· Love advice (which teaches you how to indulge in zina in the easiest way possible).
· Write ups and reviews of the latest movies (tempting you to watch them).
· A section on the latest fashion and fads (inviting you to dress in the most provocative manner possible).
· “Alleged” reports of events which transpire in people’s private lives.
Regarding the “alleged” (which means unconfirmed and unverified) news which is reported, it is more often than not a public display of people’s private lives which boils down to lying, backbiting, slandering and degradation. Our purchasing and reading of such sin is actually a sin in itself.
Next consider the cover-page of a magazine. It will generally feature the picture of some male or female celebrity. Sadly, we hungrily feast our eyes on such pictures and never, for a moment, consider that this is not only gazing at a non-mahram but is also photography which is forbidden. Even if a woman is looking at a woman, most of the time her satr area is also exposed, hence impermissible even for a woman to view. These celebrities are portrayed as living the ideal, ultimate life and we are thus fooled into making them our role models in their make-up, fashion, style and sometimes even gestures and way of speech.
Allah Ta‘ala forbid! We are bewitched into cutting our hair in the name of fashion and most shamelessly bare our beauty by removing the veil. We have forgotten that the very essence of a woman is modesty, an integral part of which is concealing herself - not stripping before the public eye.
Celebrities should actually be pitied, rather than admired, as their beauty will soon be enjoyed by the venomous creatures of the grave, and if they die without imaan, they will form the fuel of hell. How unfortunate it is that we spend our entire lives in trying to look like such people and fail to appreciate the natural beauty which Allah Ta‘ala has blessed each one of us with.
Let us strive to remove all magazines and newspapers from our lives as they subtly brainwash and influence us until we eventually begin to think like the disbelievers.