Guard your eyes in the digital age
“You may hide your screens and you may hide your history from the people, but you cannot hide it from the Creator of the people.”
Because phones can expose us to private, deliberate sins of the gaze and heart, Muslims must treat digital behavior as a test of accountability, guard their eyes, and return to Allah through repentance.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Opening praise and call to God-consciousness, purity, and guarding the eyes and heart.
- Frames phones and social media as a modern test involving forbidden images and desires.
- Teaches that deliberate online viewing, replaying, saving, and following explicit content remains haram.
- Uses the first-glance hadith to distinguish accidental sight from a chosen second look.
- Warns of spiritual damage from repeated sin while emphasizing forgiveness, tawbah, and accountability of the senses.
In the khateeb's words
“you may hide your screens and you may hide your history from the people but you cannot hide it from the creator of the people”
“if you unexpectedly see something that is haram then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the most merciful and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the most forgiving”
For the dinner table
The khutbah reminds us that Allah gave us our eyes, ears, hands, and bodies as trusts. A phone can be useful, but it can also lead us toward forbidden images and desires when no one else is watching. If something forbidden appears unexpectedly, we should turn away quickly rather than keep looking, replaying, or saving it. If we fall, we should ask Allah for forgiveness and make sincere tawbah while trying to break the pattern. The goal is to live honestly before Allah even when no person can see our screen.
- What is one phone habit that could help us guard our eyes and hearts?
- Why is turning away quickly different from choosing to keep looking?
- How can we help someone repent without embarrassing or judging them?
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