THE STRANGER

[THE_BROTHER_KHALID]

"A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.

As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. In my young mind, each member had a special niche. My brother, Yusuf, five years my senior,was my example. Samya, my younger sister, gave me an opportunity to play 'big brother' and develop the art of teasing. My parents were complementary instructors-- Mom taught me to love Allah, and Dad taught me to how to obey Him. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spell-bound for hours each evening. If I wanted to know about politics, history, or science, he knew it.

 

He knew about the past and seemed to understood the present. The pictures he could draw were so life like that I would often laugh or cry as I watched. He was like a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Yusuf and me to our first major league football game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several famous people.

 

The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn' t seem to mind-but sometimes Mom would quietly get up-- while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places-- go to her room, read the Qur'aan.

 

I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave. You see, my dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt obligation to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house-- not from us, from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor,however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm.. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted. My dad was a teatotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home - not even for cooking.

 

But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often.

 

He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (probably too much too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

 

I know now that my early concepts of the man-woman relationship were influenced by the stranger.

 

As I look back, I believe it was Allah's Mercy that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave. More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive.

 

He is not nearly so intriguing to my Dad as he was in those early years. But if I were to walk into my parents' den today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

 

His name you ask?

 

We called him TV.

 

It makes you think, doesn't it...

[Manala_garaad_baa]

asalaamu calaykum

 

bro khaalid welcome to nomads.

 

yeah it does, thanks for sharing that with us.

that shows tv is very bad influence to everyone but we do not realise that. and we encorage the children to watch tv " go and watching tv and trying to do this or that" u heard that a lot.

 

salaaam

[NoVa]

That's was so creative way of writting...I was so into the story....never did it hit me once the damn STRANGER was the TV..lol..i swear i was thinking why didn't ya parents get ride of this damn stranger out of the house lol... but what u said made sense thought..t.v is bad influence specially when the kids are so yonug and so naive.

It entertains them in such that they learn bad things by making it look good.

 

Ta Ta Tiya*

[HONEY-D]

THERE I WAS THINKING WHAT WAS THE STRANGER DOING IN YOUR HOUSE FOR 30YRS. YOU MADE BELIEVE SUCH STRANGER (HUMAN BEING)EXISTED. :rolleyes:

 

THE GOOD THING THOUGH IS REALISING HOW MUCH INFLUENCE HAS HAD THE TV ON U, AND HOW U WERE SO OBIDIENCE TO HIS COMMANDS. ALLAH (SWC) HAS SHOWN U THE RIGHT PATH MANSHA-ALLAH.

[SCORPION_SISTA]

hmmmm nice article KHALID i enjoyed reading it. in my opinion every technological invention or creation has been double side sword it does good and it does bad but i believe it's our job to decide how far we want to go with this. again thanx for posting this i enjoyed reading it, and wlc to this nomadic family in the forum.

p.s. i figure something was fishy when u thought of him a stranger after 30 yrs or so. peace

that's my 1 1/2 cents on this topic.

[Thinkerman]

A master class in metaphorical speech Gr8 post bro. i can only conclude as scorpian sister has, but ur right in saying that unfortunately we dont excess as much controls as we should in regards to tv, especially when u look @ the viewng now available to children even Before 8pm?

[Haaruun]

I was so mad 'bout ur father @ beginin' but I guess I now know the reason Y ur father didn't do anything 'bout the stranger.......Long time(16 yrs) a go, a sheekh saw me watching TV. [ It was just few days after I 1st came to America]... He looked @ me right in da eyes and said " now, u r all clean, ur ears, ur eyes, ur moral..etc, but if u sit infront of that thing, the word NORMAL will mean something else to u" I never understood the link between my ears, eys etc and the word normal....and I never bothered him to ask more cuz I thought he was just another zufi,,,,but as I grew up, I figured out what he ment.....pple kissing on tv= NOW normal

drinking on tv= NOW normal

gays on tv =normal

At that day, when the sheekh saw me watching the tv, I was filliping channels when ever two pple kissed.

My eyes never used to blv when a gay person is on tv but now........ooo yeah he's a fag, just leave him alone......I mean we don't accept some of the sh** , but everyhting became normal for us.

 

Good 1 bro

[Baydan]

Oh my Allah!

I was horrified as I have read down the paragraphs into the story. I kept asking for family that principled with strong values why are they letting this "stranger" this disgusting person stay in their life for 30 long years and risk him undo everything they hold dear? Isnt anybody strong enough to stand up to this fool? whatever is the matter with the father? and so on ..lol

 

Now that's what call creativity at its best work! Making the familiar look the strange so we could have better understanding. Thank you.

[Samafal]

There were somewhere in the middle i said to myself this cannot be a humanbeing and i figured it could be a TV but then i had my doubts. NIce article and i enjoyed it. Thanks bro for sharing it with us.

[Buubto]

Asalaamu Aleikum Wr Wb

U had me all the way, I thought how on earth this god fearing prance would allow, what they worked for years and years to be destroy just like that. When I reached at end it was like wake up call, it made sense walaahi. I immediately remembered how the prance let the kids be best friend with this stranger & at the end blame it on the society that we live in. when it all started from this stranger that continuously brainwashing them 24/7 in their lunchroom. Subxaana laah. This stranger not only brainwashing the kids but it also brainwashing the adults. Indeed is very well written article & unenlightened one.

 

P.s it will be a wake call for many prance if u make many copies of this articles & give it to muslim prances. U never know it might change money families problems.

[Valenteenah.]

That's true, TV is the very devil. Which is why we're all addicted.

 

I'll try to lessen my viewing pleasure from now on. No more family affairs I tell u!

[Ariadne]

Good article I enjoyed it very much. T.V is not the devil but at times it can be thats why people with higher IQs don't have or watch the tv.

[Saabir]

Well-written bro, it's your artistic way of writing that makes this article more intresting, that's why it's always imperative to have a wisdom in you when preaching the public.

I agree with you that the TV ruins the kids though it has its good side too.

[nuune]

very interesting indeed,

[Baashi]

Talented, that u are!

Well done bro Khalid