ERRORS, OMISSIONS AND MISTAKES

Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Raheem
Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmathullah wa barakatuhu

Relatively recently I posted a blog about wearing gloves and veiling the eyes in public.  As I said then, I am not a scholar, just a very ordinary muslimah  who was greatly blessed by having an erudite Papa, learning from him about our beloved deen when I was a child.

In consequence I am very wary about getting involved in preaching about how my sisters (and brothers) in Islam should live their lives.   I am no shaykh, no scholar, and my learning comes from listening to my Papa and many men far wiser than I will ever be.  In consequence it was with some trepidation that I wrote that Blog on gloves and eye veils.  

I hope that people reading it understood that I was merely expressing an opinion based on commonsense rather than copying out all the relevant daleels to prove my point.  Surprisingly I got several e-mails from sisters agreeing with my view and even 2 saying they were going to act on what I humbly recommended.

No, I am NOT boasting about that blog as the reason for mentioning it.  Instead this is time for me to say, "Astaghfirullaah" loudly and publicly.  For two sisters pointed out that, while I was advocating covering the eyes in public, my avatar for my Blog profile was actually a photo of myself  with my eyes clearly visible.   OUCH !

I did immediately alter the photo to one where my eyes are well concealed but the incident has taught me not to preach or advise something without ensuring that I am doing it fully myself.   In blogs, and in blog comments, it is easy to say how something should be done, but it is less easy to ensure that one obeys one's own instructions or recommendations.

That blog and my Error, Omission or Mistake taught me a profound lesson about how to (as our Western friends say)   "Practice what you preach".  And I hope it may have instilled a little more humility into me in my personal jihad to became a worthy slave to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala).

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(I have deliberately not discussed whether it is haraam or halaal to show pictures of people in blogs.  That is a topic being discussed by people far more competent than myself, and is one where there is a very wide diversity of opinions.)