For those who live in Western societies, fitnah abounds. From the moment you leave your house (or even before that), it bombards you from all sides, whether you’re a man or a woman. How can we lower our gaze under these distressing conditions?
The following tactics will benefit you inshallah if you apply them consistently.
- Peripheral Vision: Fix your gaze on the ground a meter or two in front of you and see with your peripheral vision. You can safely see everything in front of you (so you won’t walk into other people–or telephone poles), and you can tell–without looking directly at things–if they are “safe” to look at or not.
- Prepare in Advance: Before you go somewhere, spend a minute or so and think about the environment. Will you pass giant billboards or posters? What kind of people frequent the area? For example, if you walk to school in the winter, there are fewer things to worry about then in the summer. Similarly, the mall is usually far worse than an office.
- Practise: Practise, practise, practise! Like all skills, the more you practise (and succeed), the easier it becomes in the future to do the same thing again. If you fail, don’t beat yourself up–revise your plan, and try again until you succeed.
- Purify: If possible, purify your environment. For example, if you’re at home, throw out your TV, and install blockers on your computer (such as Firefox’s Adblock, which allows you to block any image on any website–useful for websites you frequent). Or, at the office, select landscapes and scenaries as your backgrounds and for decorations. Try Islamic calendars instead of regular calendars–they usually feature landscapes or masaajid instead of people.
- Protect: Protect yourself from fitnah. If you know a certain route, a certain time, a certain place is trouble, avoid it. Safeguard your modesty.
- Pray: Pray to Allah to help you–for surely, His help is the best help, and nothing happens without His will. Truly, He hears all those who call on Him for aid.
Another general tip is to increase your eman. You can try dhikr (subhanallah, alhamdulillah, Allahu akbar), or perhaps study Islam or study the Qur’an and find out more about our basic beliefs. (See the Related Entries section for more information.)
May Allah help us all to avoid the haram and enjoy the halal, ameen!