Hedonism according to Islam

Source : Al-Hikmah @ Facebook


Written by : Mohd Refezal bin Mohd @ Anan di 10:19

Translated by me(inahornaw)



Excerpts:

In big cities nowadays, there are a lot of places for pleasure, for example whore houses, cafes, bars and salons. We could say that hedoonism is being embraced as a way of life for the public.



According to history, ....



Emmmm....it’s too hard translating academic articles. So, I am going to stop there and try to explain what I understood from the article and also from my observations.



First of all, I would like to say that I am not perfect. I watched StarWorld and MTV. That’s when I realized something – am I being hedonistic? I watched Cougar Town and How I Met Your Mother. And believe me, those series are not suitable for small children and teenagers.



I heard of hedonism but I never try to understand it. So using the ever reliable Mr Google, I tried to find hedonism. At first I hit the walls, since hedonism is considered a philosophy, but then, I tried searching for hedonism according to Islam. I would try to translate here as best as I could.



“Nay, but ye do love the fleeting Now, and neglect the Hereafter”

– Al Qiyamah (20 – 21)





From wikipedia:

Hedonism is a school which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good.[1] This is often used as a justification for evaluating actions in terms of how much pleasure and how little pain (i.e. suffering) they produce. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize this net pleasure (pleasure minus pain).





In short, hedonism stresses that pleasure is the main purpose in life. Pleasure is determined by the human brain and differs from one human to another. For person A, killing might be scary but for person B, it might be pleasurable. This is the collision between two individuals.





Referring to the definition above, it is very clear that hedonism is very much wrong with the Islamic principles. This is because the culture embraces freedom of thinking, and Islamic principle puts Al-Quran and sunnah as the guidance.



Emmm...to be continued. (If I ever find the inspiration to write the second part.)