Reclaim Your Heart

F
ACEBOOK
: T
HE
 H
IDDEN
 D
ANGER
We live in an iWorld. Surrounded by iPhones, iPads,
MYspace, YOUtube, the focus is clear: Me, my, I. One
need not look far to see this obsession with the self. In
order to sell, advertisers must appeal to the ego. For
example, many ads appeal to the part of us that loves
power and being in charge. DirectTV tells you: “Don’t
watch TV, direct TV!” Yogurtland says: “You rule!
Welcome to the land of endless yogurt possibilities, where
you rule
the portions, the choices and the scene.”
But advertisers aren’t the only ones who appeal to our
ego. There is a global phenomenon that provides a
breeding ground and platform for that ego. And it’s called
Facebook. Now, I’ll be the first to assert that Facebook
can be a powerful tool for good. It is, like many other
things, what you make of it. A knife can be used to cut
food which feeds the hungry, or it can be used to kill
someone. Facebook can be used for great good—after all
it was Facebook that helped facilitate the toppling of a
dictator. Facebook can be used as a powerful tool to
organize, call, remind, and unite. Facebook can also be
used to strengthen our connection to God and to each
other… Or Facebook can be used to strengthen the hold of
our 
nafs
(lower self or ego).
The Facebook phenomenon is an interesting one. In each
and every one of us is an ego. It is the part of ourselves

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that must be suppressed (if we are to avoid Anakin’s fate
of turning to the dark side, that is). The danger of feeding
the ego is that, as the ego is fed, it becomes strong. When
it becomes strong, it begins to rule us. Soon we are no
longer slaves to God; we become slaves to ourselves.
The ego is the part of us that loves power. It is the part that
loves to be seen, recognized, praised, and adored.
Facebook provides a powerful platform for this. It
provides a platform by which every word, picture, or
thought I have can be seen, praised, and ‘liked’. As a
result, I begin to seek this. But then it doesn’t just stay in
the cyber world. I begin even to live my life with this
visibility in mind. Suddenly, I live every experience,
every photo, every thought, as if it’s being watched,
because in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “I’ll put it on
Facebook”. This creates a very interesting state of being,
almost a constant sense that I am living my life on display.
I become ever conscious of being watched, because
everything can be put up on Facebook for others to see and
comment on.
More importantly, it creates a false sense of self-
importance, where every insignificant move I make is of
international importance. Soon I become the focus, the one
on display. The message is: I am so important. My life is
so important. Every move I make is so important. The
result becomes an even stronger 
me
-focused world, where
I am at the center.

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As it turns out, this result is diametrically opposed to the
Reality of existence. The goal of this life is to realize the
Truth of God’s greatness and my own insignificance and
need before Him. The goal is to take myself out of the
center and put Him there instead. But Facebook
perpetuates the illusion of the exact opposite. It
strengthens my belief that because of my own importance,
every inconsequential move or thought should be on
display. Suddenly what I ate for breakfast or bought at the
grocery store is news, important enough to publish. When I
put up a picture, I wait for compliments; I wait for
acknowledgement and recognition. With the number of
likes or comments, physical beauty becomes something
that can now be quantified. When I put up a post, I wait for
it to be ‘liked’. And I am ever conscience of—and even
compete in—the number of “friends” I have. (Friends,
here, is in quotation marks because no one knows 80% of
their “friends” on Facebook.)
This preoccupation and rivalry to acquire more, is
mentioned in the Quran. God says:
“The mutual rivalry for piling up (of worldly things) has
preoccupied you.” (Qur’an, 
102:1
)
Whether that rivalry is in piling up wealth, or friends and
‘likes’ on Facebook, the result is the same: We have

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become preoccupied by it.
Facebook also strengthens another dangerous focus: the
focus on other people, what they’re doing, what they like.
What they think of me
. Facebook feeds the preoccupation
with others’ assessment of me. Soon, I enter the orbit of
the creation. Inside that orbit, my definitions, my pain, my
happiness, my self-worth, my success and my failure is
determined by the creation. When I live in that orbit, I rise
and fall with the creation. When the people are happy with
me, I’m up. When they’re not, I fall. Where I stand is
defined by people. I’m like a prisoner because I have
given up the keys to my happiness, sadness, fulfillment,
and disappointment to the people to hold.
Once I enter and live in the orbit of the creation—rather
than the orbit of God—I begin to use that currency. See,
the currency of God’s orbit is: His pleasure or His
displeasure, His reward or His punishment. But, the
currency of the orbit of creation is: the praise and
criticism of people. So, as I enter deeper and deeper into
that orbit, I covet more and more of its currency, and I fear
more and more of its loss. While I’m playing Monopoly,
for example, I covet more and more of its currency. And it
feels great to be ‘rich’ for a moment. But when the game is
over, what can I buy in the Real world with Monopoly
money?
The human currency of praise is Monopoly money. It feels

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great for a moment to collect, but when the game is over,
it’s worthless. In the Reality of this life and the next, it’s
worthless. And yet, I even covet this false currency in my
worship. In this way, I fall victim to the hidden shirk:
Riyaa (showing off in worship). Riyaa is a consequence of
living in the orbit of the creation. The deeper and deeper I
enter into that orbit, the more I become consumed with
gaining human praise, approval and recognition. The more
I enter that orbit, the more I fear loss—loss of face, loss of
status, loss of praise, loss of approval.
Yet the more I fear the people, the more I become
enslaved. True freedom only comes when I let go of the
fear of anything and anyone other than God.
In a profound 
hadith
(Prophetic teaching), a man came to
the Prophet 
and said: “O Messenger of God, direct
me to an act, which if I do, God will love me and people
will love me.” He 
said: “Detach yourself from the
world, and God will love you. Detach yourself from what
is with the people, and the people will love you.” [Ibn
Majah]
Ironically, the less we 
chase after
the approval and love
of the people, the more we gain it. The less needy we are
of others, the more people are drawn to us and seek our
company. This 
hadith
teaches us a profound Truth. Only
by breaking out of the orbit of the creation, can we
succeed with both God and people.

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So while Facebook is indeed a powerful tool, let it be a
tool of your freedom—not a tool of your servitude to
yourself and the assessment of others.

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