Mvslim
They are known as haram police, fatwa police or even cyber imams. If you don’t get the image: they are the kind of people whose hobby it is to criticize everyone for everything they think of as ‘Haram’ or wrong. They are the type of Muslims that do anything but minding their own business. Instead of trying to better themselves they go around judging others. Let me introduce you to the three types that I have heard of or seen the most.
1. The fashion police
“Sister, fix your hijab, that’s not the right way to wear it”. “Brother, what’s with your beard? It is not long enough! You know growing a beard is Sunnah, right?”. “And those pants are too tight! Also that shirt is not long enough”. The list goes on and on. This is the category that is mainly active on social media, especially when you look in the comment sections of fashion bloggers on for example Instagram. It really looks like these people wake up and just decide to go on an Instagram trip, judging every single person for their personal style. Doesn’t it get tiring? Instead of shaming that man about his beard or about his clothing you could have said something positive, this would have actually been a good deed.
2. The food inspectors
These are the type of people that rip the package of candy out of your hands as soon as you’re opening it. “BRO, IT MIGHT CONTAIN GELATINE”. First of all, chill, as Muslims we all try our hardest to eat as halal as possible. But these days where the ingredient section is all about E-codes, it’s really hard to tell whether something is fully halal or not. So instead of being that annoying friend who always tries to school the entire squad about halal food, maybe you should just go enjoy your glass of water and your slice of bread. Actually not even bread because there’s a high chance that it also contains pork gelatine.
3. The randoms
These are the people that randomly yell HARAM when they feel like it. For example when it comes to birthdays, there’s always that uncle who has to be a partypooper by telling you that celebrating your birthday is haram. Or that one person that tells you how haram nailpolish is, which isn’t even true. Or when you and your friends are discussing that new album that your favorite artist has just released and someone has to school you about how haram music is and that you should read the Quran instead. So you feel like apologizing for not thinking about your deen for 45 seconds.
Obviously I know that I’m being quite superficial with these three types of people. But all I want to say is that being judgemental towards others won’t benefit you nor the other person. Helping your brother or sister in Islam doesn’t mean shaming them or judging them in front of a crowd. If you really want to help someone you can do it peacefully and in private. So instead of trying to better other people, look in the mirror and think of ways to better yourself as an individual. Because no one likes other people minding someone else’s business. Especially not when it comes to something as personal as your religion.
