السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Sunday 16th January 2022 / 14 Jumādā al-Thānī 1443H.
My chosen topic today is ‘Shisha, Alcohol and Drugs’.
On Thursday afternoon, I chanced upon a youngster who told me his life story in about 45 minutes. I just could not believe what I was hearing.
He had left school and, as he was living in an area in the Midlands where gang culture was prevalent, he also joined, and spent many years selling drugs. Once, after being shot, he ended up on a life support machine, and the doctors had decided to switch the machines off and that would be the end of his life.
With just 25 minutes left before the machines were to be switched off, he started breathing by himself and, over time, made a complete recovery. These 45 minutes broke my heart. He told me about the Shisha, Alcohol and Drugs culture which is so prominent in many asian areas today.
What shocked me the most was that maybe our Muslim girls are more involved in this than our boys. This is almost beyond belief. It all starts with a group of girls going for a night out, ending up in a Shisha bar. This then leads to drink and then, of course, drugs.
The youngster said to me that the shooting and his time on the life support machine changed his life. He was now a taxi driver and had been clean for 5 years. He told me that he and his other taxi driver colleagues are called out to pubs many times after midnight.
Far too often, their customer turns out to be a Muslim girl, completely drunk. I had heard enough. I asked him how he and others end up in the gang culture and also into such vices as drink and drugs, etc. This is my message for today.
He said, ‘bad influence, and bad company’. It is so important that you make sure you know who your children’s friends are. If they are not the right company, or you notice any bad habits in your children, then please address and tackle it straight away. Do not turn a blind eye and do not be complacent.
Now, a question to the parents. What is your daughter doing being out of the house late at night and into the early hours of the morning? Have you lost all shame and modesty? Is this why Almighty Allāh blessed you with children?
When I relayed this conversation of mine to a very close friend, whose Marḥūm father was a taxi driver, his response shocked me even further, if that’s at all possible.
The father had predicted to his son some 20 years ago, that similar to us taxi drivers picking up drunk white girls late at night and dropping them off home, a day will come when these customers will be Muslim girls. Make sure your son or daughter is not one of them.
May The Almighty guide all of us and keep us on the Straight Path, Āmeen.
Do let this message of mine go viral. It needs to reach the people it concerns.
جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
Request for Du’ās
وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala