By Jamiatul Ulama Gauteng

Among the greatest qualities of a Believer is humility. Conversely, pride and arrogance are among the worst diseases that can afflict a person. A humble person is beloved to Allah Ta‘ala and is also loved by people, while a proud person or one who loves to “show off” falls from the grace of Allah Ta‘ala and is disliked by people as well, though they may appear to respect him.

Pride and vanity are not detected by means of an X-ray or CT scan. Instead they are manifested in one’s utterances, reactions to situations, choices, manner and general conduct. One of the recently discovered symptoms is “selfitis”.

Inflamed Ego

The American Psychiatric Association has defined “selfitis” as being “the obsessive, compulsive urge to take photos of one’s self and upload them on social media.” In essence, the victims of this illness are major attention seekers. The APA further explained that the suffix “itis” by which the word ends generally refers to inflammation. Hence bronchitis refers to inflammation of the lungs and tonsillitis to the inflammation of the tonsils. Thus this mental disorder was named “selfitis” as the people who suffer from it are generally prone to having “inflamed egos.”

The ahaadeeth have sounded numerous warnings for people who engage in the sin of photography. Apart from these warnings, when a person is filled with such vanity and conceit that his ego tricks him into thinking that the entire world is simply dying to share every moment of his mundane life with him, and thus he cannot see past his own face, how is he supposed to see the majesty and glory of Allah Ta‘ala?

When we will stop trying to attract the attention of people to ourselves in whichever way, including posting pictures of ourselves or our activities on social media, insha-Allah we will attract the special attention and blessings of Allah Ta‘ala towards us. This will make our lives in this world contented and peaceful.

Sourced from UswatulMuslima