Everything else is in the way of salat.

A small but powerful statement from SUNY Potsdam:

"Screen time desensitizes the brain’s reward system.

Many children are “hooked” on electronics, and in fact, gaming releases so much dopamine—the “feel-good” chemical—that on a brain scan it looks the same as cocaine use."

Just because your kid is homeschooled or goes to an Islamic School, that should not be a reason to lower your guard.

Always keep your guard up.

Shaytan doesn’t take days off.

2000: The bigger the screen, the bigger the fitna.

2024: The smaller the screen, the bigger the fitna.

When you get married, you are following a Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

But it is a lot deeper than that.

Deeper than you can imagine.

When you get married, your character changes dramatically.

Your life has so many character transformations that you will not even be aware of.

It will happen organically.

You will become a husband or wife, a parent, a son-in-law, etc, and your character will be molded with every situation under the sun.

You have to learn to deal with another person and sacrifice some of your time for them.

You will have fun,

you will argue,

you will love,

you will sacrifice,

and you will learn what patience really is.

Then you will have children, and now you will be sleep deprived, while loving them more than anything else (after Allah and the Prophet ﷺ).

No single day will ever be routine or the same.

A chaotic blessing.

Your life will be a rollercoaster at times, but you won’t want to get off of it.

It’s hard to explain if you don’t have kids, but the minute you do, it all makes sense.

All these experiences will solidify, strengthen, and make your emotional intelligence more flexible.

You will be molded into a stronger person who is more thankful, and life’s challenges will no longer make you angry and derail you, because you’ve been there and done that countless times now.

That is what a good marriage will do for you.

Did you ever hear of the Prophet ﷺ lose his cool over silly little things? Even for huge obstacles, he kept his composure.

That doesn’t mean he ﷺ didn’t get angry, but he got angry the right way.

Emotional intelligence.

There’s a right and a wrong way to get angry at someone.

When you get married in sha Allah, you will know what I mean.

He ﷺ was faced with challenge after challenge, but he was able to persevere.

Now, what happens if you don’t get married?

It can get ugly.

Your character is more likely to become very rigid.

You have been so used to living a certain way, that small changes aggravate you.

As you get older, your routine settles, and your emotional intelligence declines.

You become one-dimensional.

You become selfish.

You become grumpy.

Too many moving parts causes you to panic.

Your individualism only grows bigger, and sadly, you will be alone.

You never had kids, and now when you see kids being kids, it annoys you.

It might even disgust you.

What did the Prophet ﷺ say about a person’s character?

Aisha reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

إِنَّ مِنْ أَكْمَلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِيمَانًا أَحْسَنُهُمْ خُلُقًا وَأَلْطَفُهُمْ بِأَهْلِهِ

Verily, the most complete of believers in faith are those with the best character and who are most kind to their families.

Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2612

If you really want to perfect your character, your relationships have to be more than just having friends and being an Uncle or Aunty.

You need to be a parent.

You need to be a spouse.

You need to be that rock that your spouse relies on, and your kids rely on.

At the end of the day, it is your family that will care about you the most.