Being Happy is Haram
Well, everything is haram. If you are acheiving enjoyment or it’s making you smile. If you are enjoying life while others are suffering in the world, it’s haram. And it’s fitna too. It’s all the bad things you shouldn’t be doing if you’re a good Muslim.
Okay- sarcasm is not exactly my greatest Muslim trait. But this is how I talk. 😉 I’m calling out the “Negative Nellies” that come out of the woodwork to condemn positive things people are trying to do.
If you aren’t trying to save the world, step out of the way of people that are trying to. If you aren’t offering a solution, your complaints will fall on deaf ears.
So the Pharrell Williams Happy song is the trend of the day. Everyone is singing it. People are creating videos in cities all across the planet- singing and dancing to the song and showing how happy they are. The Muslim community is no different- from Britain to my hometown of Chicago, people are making videos of the song showing themselves dancing to it, singing to it and well ….being happy!
All of this #Happy Love has touched the heart of Mr. Williams. Tears are a symbol of authenticity- that you are expressing emotion from the heart. (Awww, Pharrell! I feel the love, man!) 
A lot of my friends are in the Chicago version of the Happy video below. And it brought a smile to my face. These are friends that don’t sit around complaining. These are friends that ACT. They do things in attempts to make a difference. A lot. I like surrounding myself with people like them. They are DOers. They include their children in the things they do- to set an example for them. May Allah reward all of my friends and their families.
I’m not going to start a debate about music in Islam. I do have my own opinion about it. I come from a musical family. I have musical kids. I can play a mean Home On the Range on the harmonica. I have the music in me. 🙂 And I do understand how much music can influence people and society- and how we have a choice of what we listen too and how often.
And it makes me reflect on my faith. There are key elements that draw me to Islam- that ground me to it. The idea of applying logic to all that we do. And the idea of moderation. There is no room for extremism in Islam. (Whether you are extremely trying to live by Islamic values or extremely trying to distort them.) When Muslims come out and verbally attack my friends who took part in the Chicago Happy video and call it “fitna!” … I don’t know. It makes me feel like we have some narrow-minded brothers and sisters around us.
I’m an American Muslim. I like the Chicago Muslim Happy video. Mostly for the positive and light-hearted intention that is behind it. I try to ACT as much as I can- on behalf of the Ummah (Muslim community) to make things better. To show the positive sides of our community since the media does a pretty good job of trying to influence negative stereotypes of Muslims. I ACT by using my skills- volunteering, blogging, writing letters to the editor, sharing infomation through the #MyJihad campaign. If you are going to criticize what Muslims are trying to do with positive intention- go ahead. But if you want that criticism to actually result in some kind of change taking place —- you are going to need to offer an alternative solution to the problem others are attempting to fix that you are criticizing.
If you are just verbally attacking to project your own personal, narrow-minded viewpoint of Islam onto others, it’s really not welcome. Because it’s just not helpful. It’s a time waster. And it brings people down. (I saw my friend with a smile turned to a frown. C’mon. Aren’t we supposed to build each other up? Not bring each other down?) Everyone is on their own journey. It’s not up to others to be your journey police.
Anyhoo—- I was not an early adopter of this Pharrell Williams Happy song phenomenon- but it’s grown on me since all of my friends keep singing and dancing to it and sharing in the happiness.
And sharing happiness and smiles is sunnah! #BeHappy
About the Author
About the Author: I'm a Writer, Speaker and Muslim Activist. I'm a former Board Member of the #MyJihad Public Education Campaign.
Follow my blog at yasminareality.com or follow me on Twitter: @yasmina_reality. I'm also now on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YasminaReality
Peace! More from this author.
Don't Miss the Next Great Post
If you enjoyed this blog post, subscribe below, and you'll receive an automatic email update when we publish new content.