Despite my public enough protests, I am still inundated with unwanted emails from well-meaning friends. Ah well... perhaps this is just their way of telling me that they're alive - a 'ping' of sorts...
The past two days, however, I have been quite preoccupied with one particular email which contained a MSWord attachment. I opened it thinking it was a joke (the email was entitled "Terlampau di {apartment building name excluded}"). The document contained snapshots of a couple getting 'hot and bothered' at the bottom of a staircase. Don't bother asking me to forward it, I immediately deleted it (this person inconsiderately forwarded this huge file to my office email address.. hmmph!).
Yes, we have all been forwarded emails on the sexual exploits of our youths, allegedly in the Shah Alam parks, KLCC and now, an apartment building. What was unusual about this email was that the conclusion of this 'photo essay' included at least 3 frames of the couple realising that they had an audience, and the look of shame on their faces.
What bothered me wasn't so much the couple (although I know of heaps of people who would have a lot to say about a tudung clad girl in a baju kurung getting it on with a very young looking guy). What bothered me was the connotations that was attached to emails like this: preachy in a 'lesson-to-be-learned-here-and-that's-why-I-forwarded-this' sort of way.
What intention did the cameraman have by sitting through the whole 'dirty deed' and then taking the trouble to circulate it via email? By this logic, we can perhaps assume that the cameraman is some sicko voyeur who forwarded these files to friends for kicks.
Which leads me to the forwarders. Some of these people are 'good' people, with 'good' intentions. But what good can come out of circulating evidence of some young couple's moment of shame, with their faces in clear view? What lesson is to be learned here?
By forwarding these images, the senders have effectively invited public ridicule of some misguided individuals. I'm not going to judge what these kids did, but the older and supposedly wiser forwarders should really think about whether their actions were any better than the voyeur, or even the couple themselves.
Imam Ali k.w berpesan, "Wahai hamba Allah janganlah tergesa-gesa mengecam aib seseorang, kerana boleh jadi Allah mengampuni dosanya, janganlah juga engkau selesa dengan dosamu yang kecil kerana mungkin Allah akan mengazabmu dengan dosa itu".Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2003年08月08日 11:35 | TrackBackTranslation:
Quoted from Imam Ali: "Servant of Allah, do not rush to condemn the sins of others, because Allah may yet forgive his sin, do not be comfortable with you own little sin, because Allah may yet punish you for it."(Excerpt from Mengingati Asyura Untuk Kukuhkan Perpaduan - Bahasa article)
I am glad that you wrote about this matter. I saw the e-mail attachment yesterday and It bothered me a lot.
IMHO, the original person who had circulated the photos is a sicko. I mean, with all the unnecessary captions... really unnecessary lah!
Posted by: Nizam Zakaria at 2003年08月08日 12:08amen to that, najah. I vote you to Ministry of Women and Family Development. :)
Posted by: fooji at 2003年08月08日 13:16hi najah.. thanx for a brilliant and pertinent entry on the seemingly greater 'decline' of morals amongst our youths..
heres my two cents.. i think the reason why there seems to be more of these things going on is because there are more ways to 'capture' these exploits, via the digital gadgets and the ability to distribute them...
i wonder if the situation was the same 20, 30 or 50 years ago, as humans are humans, and its just that people never got to record thse acts and couldnt distribute the 'evidences' as widely as it is so today..
and u made a v. important point in that why didnt the photographer stop the act? he seems to be 'joining' in the sin as well..
before i leave heres a hadith i plucked from
http://www.dar-al-talaba.net/Features/Thulm.html
Abu Saeed Al-Khudri, RA, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) say:
" Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue;
and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart (by disapproving it inside that this is wrongdoing) and that is the weakest of faith."
(Related by Muslim; See Arba'iin Nawawi, #34)
wallahualam
Posted by: faren at 2003年08月08日 18:42The same goes for purchasing Porn VCD of people caught in the act... it is like supporting the industry and justifying the perpetrator to do more such sins....
Posted by: Kew at 2003年08月08日 18:48yes, well i did get the same pictures in my email dated back to 25 june 2003. And u know what? the pictures were captured from video clips that i saw on 'edisi siasat' last week. The same people, angle, clothes, the works. and edisi siasat claimed that 'they' conducted the 'sex di tepi tangga' story due to complaints received by tenant at the apartments. Same picture? coincidence? I think not. so the big question is, is there an irresponsible person in our faved 'edisi siasat'?
Posted by: praetorian at 2003年08月08日 20:09Hear ! hear ! good for you. There are a lot of well intentioned sickos out there. Normally it's based on a religious slant. The saints of that hold up the pillars of morality will stop at nothing to "help" other people.One other application used by these "prepetators" is the yahoo messenger where the "message all" utility has been abused time and time again. This can be really damaging in enclosed areas such as a university. Unfortunately I had first had experience of this when one of the doctors in my university was "prosecuted" on the yahoo messenger by mass messages saying that he had molested a girl. These were just rumours that had no base what so ever but already there was a talk to organise some sort of way to warn all the other girls so that they do not become victims. These so called "good samaritans" did not think about investigating the case first. I gave a few of them a good piece of my mind, but alas it was too late. 2 weeks later the doctor had to be transfered away as no one would dare walk into his office to seek treatment after his name had been smeared on the yahoo messenger ( practically everybody uses ym in my uni ). Sigh ! paranoia when high enough always reaches stupidity..
Posted by: Low Kian Seong at 2003年08月10日 23:13Belum terima dan tengok spam e-mel begitu. Tapi hal sedemikian termasuk dlm kategori mengumpat. Mengumpat zaman moden. Apatah lagi termasuk pula dalam mendedah dan menyebarkan aib ke merata-rata tempat. Jadi pengirim asal dapatlah "dosa kering", bila orang lain forwardkan e-mel tersebut.
Posted by: Nazmi at 2003年08月14日 17:59May Allah guide us all to the clear path..Ameen. Really glad to see that there still some people who see how wrong that is to expose someone's 'aib'. Agree with u Najah.I dont see what good that someone get from forwarding all this emails. I also received it a few days ago.so sick of it that i dont even care to open it.already delete it. Human will always be human and nobody is perfect. All of us are liable to err except one whom Allah guide to the right path.That is the nature of being human. So seek the right guidance from Allah so that He shall direct u to the right path.There is no other objective that they want to achieve by taking those 'pictures' except to humiliates his/her muslim brother and sister. All my friend seems to disagree with me.I dont want to say much. As for me, no single human being on this earth deserve to be humiliates in such a cruel way. I just want to share with u all a verse from Quran and a hadiths in shahih Muslim about this..
(Quran 49:12)
O ye who believe! avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: and spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it. But fear Allah: for Allah is Oft-Returning, Most-Merciful.
(from shahih Muslim)
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying: The servant (who conceals) the faults of others in this world, Allah would conceal his faults on the Day of Resurrection.
Praetorian: Knowing the people responsible for the edisi siasat episode personally, I'd like to share that they found out about it through email, as well. Even I received the pictures in my email about a month ago, and quickly deleted them.
They acted on the information they received as best they can, and the fates of the people involved (though known) I will not share, for the sake of decency.
I can say, however, that the security personnel knew what had been happening, yet took no steps on stopping them.
Posted by: Ash.ox at 2003年08月21日 14:09Shameful..... I hope that all the parent that their son or daughter are in Universities, contact their children more often.....
Bad Youth.