We have much to be grateful to the West for.
Even though, at the same time, we as Muslims also have a lot of very serious issues with the West.
That is how it is in a family. And we are one family: Muslims and the West.
One Human Family. Children of Adam all.
Along with all the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Atheists -- and all the others.
And it is not uncommon among family members to fight with each other -- and sometimes like cats and dogs.
So, it is not at all surprising that we all have our fights. Muslims and the West and all the rest of us human beings.
But at the core of it all is the fact that we are members of one common human family.
So, I am saying, we much appreciate what the West has done -- in more recent times. And that means going back in time, not just a few decades, but maybe even a few centuries.
The West has increased our sensitivity to such vital human issues as Privacy.
But, to tell the truth, this is nothing but Johnny Come Lately! For, Privacy has been a Muslim issue since the advent of Islam on this earth: over 1400 years ago.
Beautiful Hadith, as all Hadith are:
You protect the Privacy of others,
God Almighty will protect your Privacy.
And much more than even that: One of the key attributes of God Almighty is Sattaar:
The One Who Loves to Protect and Cover Up
the Faults, the Imperfections, the blemishes,
the failures and the Slip-Ups of His Creation!
So, like all other good things in life, and in this world, we, meaning Islam and our God, your God too, for there is only one God anyway, invented this one too:
The concept that we so proudly call Privacy today!
And how can I ever forget that most beautiful Hadith Sharif in which the question arises about people throwing off their clothes in the privacy, let us say, of their own homes, and going, you know blank naked?
The words of the Hadith are as fresh, as immortal and as profound as any that ever issued from the mouth of a human:
Innallaha Ahaqqu An Yustah-Ya Minhu!
Paraphrasing something that cannot ever be paraphrased or translated on this earth:
"God Almighty deserves the most that we be bashful
and observe Privacy in his presence!"
END
