I Am an Internet Addict

09/07/2012| IslamWeb

Question
Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you,
I am (what is commonly known as) an internet addict; I used to spend most of my time chatting and messaging my friends. Now, I never open the chat and I have deleted all male friends from my messenger contact list, thanks to Allah. However, I am still addicted to the Internet, especially now after having started my studies, all of which entail using the computer and the Internet in particular.
I am not mentally relaxed until I am online; I only visit Islamic websites and forums and I am often online late at night.
The problem is that now we are in the last ten days of Ramadan, and I keep telling myself that I will pray and recite the Quran and do Thikr late at night when everyone is asleep and the house is quiet. But usually I am online earlier at night and stay online for a long time until I feel tired and sleepy. I try to pray two Rak‘ahs or recite a little Quran after that, knowing that I would be able to pray more than two Rak‘ahs if I were not tired.
My question is: Will I be held accountable before Allah The Almighty for these times, given that I only visit Islamic websites? Will I be held accountable before Allah The Almighty for the time I waste or for my laziness? And does this act indicate preferring the worldly life over the Hereafter? Thank you. 

Answer

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, The Ever-Merciful
Assalaamu ‘Alaykum,
My dear daughter, I implore Allah The Exalted to protect you and the Muslim youth from the hazards of the Internet, and to guide us to obeying Him.
Moderation is required of us in our usage of modern technologies. It is wrong to spend long hours surfing the Internet, as this has a negative effect on our religious duties, our health and our social ties among people. I urge you to avoid visiting immoral websites, to choose the best of the Islamic websites, and to devote the last hours of night in worship, seeking forgiveness and turning to Allah The Exalted in submission. Bear in mind that performing acts of worship and obedience is not confined to Ramadan. However, we tend to carry out extra acts of worship and good deeds in the blessed month of Ramadan. When one is blessed with genuine success and becomes accustomed to performing more acts of worship than usual, he continues to perform acts of worship and good deeds even after the month of Ramadan. Indeed, the purpose for man's creation is to worship the Creator, Who Says (what means): {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.} [Quran 51:56]
There is no goodness in any knowledge, action, business or transaction that hinders one from performing acts of worship and righteous deeds. Moreover, no man will be dismissed on the Day of Resurrection before being held accountable for four things: his life, his youth, his wealth and his knowledge. The Prophet said:
“The feet of a servant will not move on the Day of Judgment until he has been questioned about four things: his life – how he spent it, his knowledge – how he acted upon it, his wealth where he earned it and how he spent it, and his body - how he used it.”
Each one of us will be questioned about the years of his life that he spent in this world. He will be especially questioned about his youth and how he spent it. Therefore, you should take care of how you spend your time and devote the best of your time to worship. Remember that the devil is keen to prevent us from carrying out acts of obedience to Allah The Exalted and we have been ordered to defy the devil.
Hence, Muslims should maintain a balance between fulfilling the objective for which they are created, i.e. worshipping Allah The Exalted, and carrying out the normal worldly affairs. We hope that our worldly affairs be considered an act of obedience to Allah The Almighty as well.
We offer our deeds sincerely to Allah The Exalted hoping to benefit Islam and Muslims. May Allah grant us success.