Careful What You Put On The Bric-a-Brac

“Did you know,” a serious looking five year old confronted me with at a fundraiser for our local mosque, “that Bratz is haraam?” Bewildered, I looked from her, to the Bratz doll I was placing on the Bric-a-Brac stall. “Infact,” she continued blithely, “I'm surprised you're even putting it up for sale.” “Um,” I started, eloquently. “Why are they haraam?” I didn't remember that particular ayaat. She gave me a look of disappointment before responding matter-of-factly: “Because they wear indecent clothes and have boyfriends.” “Oh,” I said. Oh indeed.

In retrospect, I can see where she was coming from. As a Muslim student, commercial ideas are being sprouted at us from all angles. From Credit cards to designer clothing and elaborate gadgets, in fact during Freshers their is a whole day dedicated to the commercial market for students. Many of these luxuries aren't strictly on par with what we want to strive for as our Islamic ideals, eg, moderate spending and a simple life.

Similarly most dolls aimed at young girls do not convey the most positive female image, be it unhealthy body shapes, eye-brow raising fashion sense, or superficial pasttimes circulating around riding in cars with boys named Todd. Still, Bratz has managed to gain criticism from a variety of audiences over a wide spectrum of issues, an example of which can be seen here.

Innapropriate dolls aside, the exchange made me think. While I wouldn't go as far to claim that the dolls are haraam - forbidden by Islamic law - it's true enough that Islam strongly discourages the wearing of revealing clothes and gender mixing.

Take a glance around campus this summer and no doubt you'll see a lot of flesh on show along with a plethora of other issues that conflict with Islamic teachings. It's just something that we see so often in today's society that picking it out starts to become a never ending pasttime, and after a while it just becomes the norm. And sometimes it takes something as unexpected as someone fifteen years your junior to point it out to you again.

There are many lessons in this. One of which is to be careful what you put on the bric-a-brac, but even more important is keeping a firm grasp on our islamic ideals. Just because everyone else is doing it, or because we see so many things that run contrary to our beliefs, doesn't mean we can let our eyes glaze over it.

Unfortunately, from time to time, we are bound to become a little desensitised and it's in situations like that where it pays to have clear-minded friends to remind you. Or surprisingly perceptive kids. I feel enlightened, and also quite old.
 

One of my biggest fears is slipping into bad habits because they are so predominant in society that they can almost happen accidentally. Does anyone else worry about this? Has there been a time when you've realised that you've moved away from your standards in order to fit in? Leave a comment and let's get a discussion going!