tree?” “No”, the saint said again, “Birds sit upon the branches of trees. We cannot take their place of sitting from them.”

“Then shall we lay it down on the grass?”, the murids asked. “No!”, the great saint said again, “The grass is food for animals. We cannot hide this from them.” In the end, Sayyidunā Bāyazīd Bisṭāmi رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه placed his shirt on his stomach and sat in the sunlight. This allowed his shirt to dry.^[1]

 سُبْحٰنَ اللہ This is taqwā! Think over what we have just heard! The righteous people of Allah were extremely cautious in what they did, lest they fell into sin. May Allah make us from the people of taqwā! When we read more and more into their lives, we will find ourselves embarrassed at our own lack of restraint. Their level of caution when it came to sin is a completely new concept for many of us.

For example, social media is openly used by everyone without a second thought. Whether young or old, people open apps like Facebook and spend huge amounts of time there. This is despite the fact social media contains very many dangers which can lead one to sin. It is highly uncommon for one to be able to use social media freely without fear of sin, such as looking at haram or something similar.

This does not mean it is prohibited to use social media correctly. Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and other social media platforms can be used for good. Taqwā is to only use them as much as necessity requires. Otherwise, it is better to avoid social media completely, as it poses a great risk of falling into sin.

Another commonly seen example is looking in every direction when one is out and about. In our time, this can be extremely troublesome, as streets can have large billboards displaying uncovered women. In fact, some screens show video advertisements of this nature too. In and of itself, looking around and walking with a raised head is permissible (i.e.