Bismi Allahi Al Rahmani Al Raheemi
ASA WR WB to believing Muslim friends:
Nabi Ibrahim (epbuh) had time to process information, and he is considered to be of an exalted standard of character on the Tongue of Truth.
Today we are expected with our brains (minds) to process information quickly. The majority of reasons why we process information is to make the right decisions. It is possible to be under a system of Laws in Faith in which thoughts (not actions) that you make in a split second can merit penalty. Those are thought crimes.
We receive so much information on the internet each day. Our brains are not Artificial Intelligence Computers. It takes time to process the information that we are seeing and hearing. So while we want to be timely, we do not want to be hasty, and Allah (swt) is with the Sabirun.
We have to allow our minds to have the natural ebb and flow, to use the analogy of the tree pushed back and forth by the wind. The tree being analogous to the mind. It being stationary being analogous to being rooted in Faith and the Word of Allah (swt). The winds representing conflicting thoughts. Pardon me because Allah (swt) does not like any of us to invent similitudes or analogies. But the mind must be allowed to naturally move back and forth as when the trees are pushed by the winds. This is also in architectural design of skyscrapers they'll use a tuned mass damper to counteract too much natural building movement or swaying back and forth.
Here Nabi Ibrahim (epbuh) 3 times mistook celestial bodies for Allah (swt) but it was not considered Shirk because it did not enter his heart and settle in as a belief system. But, he essentially had time to consider, reflect and meditate on whether or not the Stars, Moon or Sun were Allah or not. We can assume that the reflections lasted probably 12 hours. That is approximately the time that either of those bodies will set.
When presented with information we have to be able to say to ourselves, "What is this that I am looking at?" and have time to process the information, and then do the necessary research of the Holy Books of Allah (swt) to make an informed decision. But we must get out of the injustice of needing to make instantaneous decisions or being under the systems of perpetual thought crimes. Sometimes a thought might enter the mind about someone else and we have to have time to decide if we like the thought or do not like the thought. To accept or reject the thought. But, when our thoughts are being steered too consistently in a way that is compromising to our morals, ethics, values, beliefs and principles then we may have to steer clear of or keep to a minimum the engagement with that place. Example is Tik Tok. I am on it. But not wanting to explore it. But Tik Tok is slick they have little previews before you log-in of somethings we don't want our eyes to see. This is without venturing to explore content. My searches are under Islamic terms and then I connect based on those search terms.
Furthermore even as it concerns making a love connection, Allah (swt) instructed us to not make that decision based on lust but based on chastity. I could find the ayat for you but I am tired. Here they are:
"This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book, revealed before your time,- when ye give them their due dowers, and desire chastity, not lewdness, nor secret intrigues if any one rejects faith, fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good)." ~ Surahtul Maidah Ayat 5
"Let those who find not the wherewithal for marriage keep themselves chaste, until God gives them means out of His grace. And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which God has given to you. But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is God, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them)," ~ Surahtul Nur Ayat 33
Our decision making must be based on chastity and not lust. If someone is trying to influence your decision based on lust, then it can be identified as something that should not merit your favorable decision.
Going to add this on the end from Surahtul Nahl Ayat 74 because I used an analogy. "Invent not similitudes for God: for God knoweth, and ye know not."
Can click any of these images to enlarge them.
