You open social media intending to do something beneficial.
Two hours later, you are buried in replies with someone you have never met.
Maybe the argument is about the preservation of the Qur'an, while you have barely opened your own Mushaf this week.
The lesson you meant to finish is still unfinished. Your family got whatever attention was left once the argument was over. You put the phone down irritated, replaying what the other person said and thinking of what you should have replied.
This can happen very easily online.
Part of the problem is that you often know almost nothing about the person on the other side.
There is a story circulated about a student of knowledge who spent a considerable amount of time arguing with someone online. The account owner had a Kunyah and presented himself in a way that made him seem like someone worth seriously engaging.
Eventually, the student of knowledge discovered who he had been debating.
A 13-year-old boy.
Imagine that.
Hours of your life spent researching, typing, responding and getting frustrated… only to discover that “Abu Fulan” or “Ibn Fulan” has school tomorrow morning. And this is the reality of social media.
You often have absolutely no idea who is behind the account you are arguing with. And because the subject is Islamic, it is easy to convince yourself that every reply is important.
You are defending the Sunnah.
Correcting falsehood.
Doing Da'wah.
Perhaps that really was your intention when the conversation began. But somewhere around the fifteenth or twentieth reply, the discussion changed.
Neither of you is listening properly anymore. You keep checking the notifications. The tone gets sharper. You know the exchange is going nowhere, but leaving now feels like letting him win.
At that point, ask yourself what exactly you are still trying to achieve.
There is no doubt that falsehood needs to be refuted. Shirk, innovation, attacks upon the Qur'an and Sunnah, and false ideas that mislead people should not be left unaddressed. But those matters need people who are qualified to address them.
Besides that, there is a difference between a useful clarification and spending hours trading replies with someone who has no intention of listening.
It is reported from Ma'ruf al-Karkhi رحمه الله:
When Allah intends good for a servant, He opens for him the door of action and closes to him the door of argumentation. And when Allah intends evil for a servant, He opens for him the door of argumentation and closes to him the door of action." (Iqtida' al-Ilm al-'Amal 123)
The Prophet ﷺ said:
"I guarantee a house on the outskirts of Paradise for the one who leaves argumentation, even when he is right." (Sunan Abi Dawud 4800)
Being right does not mean you are required to keep replying. There comes a point when closing the app may be better for you than producing one more answer.
Go back to the lesson you abandoned. Review what you memorised. Open the Qur'an you were defending online. Spend some time with your family. Help your parents. Work on the character all that knowledge is supposed to produce.
Tomorrow, the thread may already be buried under a hundred new posts and discussions.
Your evening is still gone.
A student of knowledge is not measured by how many strangers he manages to defeat in comment sections.
What he learns should show up in his worship, his restraint, his manners, the benefit he brings to people and the way he values his time.
So before typing the next reply, ask yourself honestly: Is there still some benefit in continuing this, or do I just want to have the last word?
Knowledge was not given to us merely so we could become better at arguing. It was meant to make us better Muslims.
Team AMAU
www.amauacademy.com
