There is a recurring pattern with modern technologies, one that is impossible to ignore, i.e., the life cycle in which a technology is initially invented for a beneficial purpose, sold and distributed on a global scale, and finally, years down the line, turns out to have such major detrimental effects that it offsets any benefit it may have provided by a longshot.
In this article, we will be taking a closer look at one such invention, something that has now become a common household item and is used by people on a regular basis. However, it has only recently been uncovered that this product actually has an immense downside for human health.
We will also be looking at how the alternative resources provided to us by Allah are infinitely superior to this invention. And yes, as mentioned in the title, I’m talking about everyday household cleaning products.
The actual study itself was conducted by researchers at the University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital in Norway, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, following changes in the lung-function of 6,235 people.
The process hypothesized by the researchers through which such extreme long-term damage was caused, involved the airways reshaping themselves due to exposure to the chemical irritants and other harmful agents that were present in these cleaning products:
Unfortunately, in hindsight, this actually makes perfect sense. It seems pretty obvious that such harmful chemical agents entering the lungs via the airways over such a long period of time would be bound to have some serious health consequences. However, because virtually everyone uses them to clean their homes, because no skepticism was expressed by the vast majority of its users and producers, and because its detrimental health effects were only observed decades after its use became popular, while greedy investors had no incentive to highlight its harmful effects, eyebrows weren’t raised until it was far too late.
This is a pattern that continues to repeat itself, over and over again, when it comes to modern technologies.
Unfortunately, this is what happens when human beings abandon the natural gifts and blessings given to them by Allah and instead try to replace them with inventions that they think are better. Following this unholy formula, the world has rapidly transformed for the worse in the last hundred years, and there are two main players facilitating this transformation. Firstly, many of the inventors and distributors of these technologies either lack the intellect to understand that Allah’s natural resources are plenty and don’t need to be improved upon, or they arrogantly believe that man can create better than God. Secondly, there are the consumers of these technologies who integrate these products into their lives without displaying any kind of skepticism towards them, primarily because they are tricked into believing that these are better alternatives to natural God-given resources. For instance, we find countless blaring advertisements suggesting that their products kill 99.99% of bacteria or germs. We’ve all come across countless advertisements like these, produced by greedy corporations to reel in gullible audiences around the world.
And even if this 99.99% figure is true, what these advertisements are implicitly saying is that just plain water is not enough and will lead to homes being ridden with disease, which of course doesn’t make sense, since water did the job just fine for thousands of years. What has changed all of a sudden, such that we now so desperately need these products which wipe out 99.99% of germs while also destroying our lungs, instead of plain old water that washed away the germs too, while also preserving our organs? Absolutely nothing. It is just their greed that forces them to so blatantly deceive us in these ads, and it is our gullibility and the perceived dependence on tech that they’ve psychologically ingrained in us through constant positive reinforcement that pushes us to buy them.
A study was conducted in Saudi Arabia looking at the effects of excessive sanitizer usage during the Covid “scam-demic,” focusing particularly on how the skin was affected:
Consider the following prophetic narration and commentary:
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Imagine a critic of a clock focusing only on a few isolated cogs and ignoring the rest of the elements by which the clock runs smoothly. By only focusing on a few specific cogs, he decides to arrange them in a manner that he thinks is better than the already existing arrangement. However, because he didn’t take the entire structure and mechanism into account, he fails to realize that these cogs were placed in such a way precisely to make them run smoothly along with the rest of the cogs and all of the other parts. As a result, his arrogance and lack of knowledge throws the entire system out of balance, rendering it useless. This is a fitting analogy for those who promote the replacement of the natural resources bestowed upon us by Allah with modern technologies, causing far more harm than any good that had been perceived.
For instance, just look at how fiercely medical technologies like vaccinations are pushed down our throats. Was humanity not doing just fine already without them? These governments and elites have used fear and the prospect of pleasure and convenience to grip our hearts and transform us into slavish consumers who will do whatever they say, whenever they say. To be obedient little cattle who place all their trust in so-called “scientific experts” without question, as if their word was revelation. And then we attack and denounce those who show even the minimal amount of skepticism as uneducated ignoramuses. Where is our dignity, honour, and faith in Allah?
As Muslims, we should try to avoid using these technologies where possible. Now, just to be clear, I’m not telling people to go and become hermits on top of a mountain, and I understand that, given the part of the world you find yourself living in, there is some degree of technology that one sometimes can’t avoid, as is the nature of the modern world. However, there is no need to overindulge and go into excess in following this broken system and abiding by it so strictly. Unfortunately, there were so many Muslims during the Covid era who fell for the propaganda and were scrubbing their hands with sanitizers 99 times a day, wearing masks 24/7, etc. And unfortunately, I was among the foolish crowd that ended up getting vaccinated, not because I thought it was necessary but because I was too careless to consider there could be any harm involved in getting the shot. This was a foolish mistake that I admit to having made, and it is a mistake that I have learnt from.
The believer is not stung from the same hole twice. So, for all of us who fell for these traps the first time around, we must ensure that we are not made fools of again. And one huge reason that we all need to be better at not falling victim to this façade is so we can pass down these values to our children. Because the way things are going, technology is only going to make the world a much worse place. And either in our time or the time of our descendants, a time will come when it will be impossible to live within technocratic dystopias without losing one’s Islam entirely. It is only if we adopt vigilance and skepticism against modern technology today, while opting for natural and healthier God-given resources, that we can instill the same passion for nature and disdain for modern tech in our children, so that they too are able to make the right choices for the betterment of the Muslim ummah in the future.
May Allah make our children among those who uplift the Muslim ummah and are religiously devout protectors and guardians of Islam. Amin.
Article (Archive)
In this article, we will be taking a closer look at one such invention, something that has now become a common household item and is used by people on a regular basis. However, it has only recently been uncovered that this product actually has an immense downside for human health.
We will also be looking at how the alternative resources provided to us by Allah are infinitely superior to this invention. And yes, as mentioned in the title, I’m talking about everyday household cleaning products.
The Dire Respiratory Consequences of Cleaning Products
If you belong to an upper or middle class household, chances are that this lung-destroying concoction sees regular usage in your home. It was recently discovered that these cleaning products and sprays are extremely harmful to human lungs, especially when one has been exposed to them over a long period of time:Yes, you read right. The damage sustained is “equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day,” and this is from something that need never even be used in the first place. It is what I would describe as an “excessive luxury.””People who have worked as cleaners or done household cleaning for 20 years have reduced lung function equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day, for the same period of time,” says PHD-candidate Øistein Svanes, at the Department of Clinical Science, at the University of Bergen. He is main author of the study.
The actual study itself was conducted by researchers at the University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital in Norway, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, following changes in the lung-function of 6,235 people.
The process hypothesized by the researchers through which such extreme long-term damage was caused, involved the airways reshaping themselves due to exposure to the chemical irritants and other harmful agents that were present in these cleaning products:
FVC stands for “forced vital capacity,” which is the maximum amount of air a person can forcefully exhale from their lungs after drawing the deepest possible breath. It is used as a test to see how well a person’s lungs are functioning. Reduced FVC translates to reduced lung function. As mentioned previously, the decline in this case was equivalent to the decline in lung function experienced by a person who smokes 20 cigarettes a day.Most cleaning agents have an irritative effect on the mucous membranes of the airways (23, 9). One possible mechanism for the accelerated decline in cleaners is the repetitive exposure to low-grade irritative cleaning agents over time, thereby causing persistent changes in the airways. Also, some cleaning agents may have sensitizing properties through specific immunological mechanism; quaternary ammonium compounds are known to have sensitizing effects in the airways, as well as also having an irritative effect (23). Repeated exposure could lead to remodeling of the airways, thereby over time causing an accelerated decline in FVC and FEV1. Also, one could hypothesize that long-term exposure to airway irritants such as ammonia and bleach used when cleaning at home could cause fibrotic or other interstitial changes in the lung tissue, thereby leading to accelerated decline of FVC (24).
Unfortunately, in hindsight, this actually makes perfect sense. It seems pretty obvious that such harmful chemical agents entering the lungs via the airways over such a long period of time would be bound to have some serious health consequences. However, because virtually everyone uses them to clean their homes, because no skepticism was expressed by the vast majority of its users and producers, and because its detrimental health effects were only observed decades after its use became popular, while greedy investors had no incentive to highlight its harmful effects, eyebrows weren’t raised until it was far too late.
This is a pattern that continues to repeat itself, over and over again, when it comes to modern technologies.
Water as the Ultimate Purifier
Meanwhile, using simple plain water to clean the house does the job just as well, and it does so without destroying our lungs. Allah created and granted us the blessing of water as the ultimate purifier, something that nourishes and cleanses us internally and also cleans our external surroundings, washing away all dirt and disease. On top of that, it has a soul-cleansing effect, a spiritual upper-hand that industrial disinfectants don’t possess. We use it to ritually purify ourselves before our five daily prayers. The water washes away all the worldly dirt, and the salah offered subsequently washes away one’s sins. A person feels purified after washing himself or his surroundings with water, as Allah has created within our fitrah (innate disposition) a natural affinity towards water, something that is ingrained within its characteristic of cleansing and removing unpleasant things. Artificially manufactured floor cleaners can never resonate with the human fitrah the way that water does as a purifier.Unfortunately, this is what happens when human beings abandon the natural gifts and blessings given to them by Allah and instead try to replace them with inventions that they think are better. Following this unholy formula, the world has rapidly transformed for the worse in the last hundred years, and there are two main players facilitating this transformation. Firstly, many of the inventors and distributors of these technologies either lack the intellect to understand that Allah’s natural resources are plenty and don’t need to be improved upon, or they arrogantly believe that man can create better than God. Secondly, there are the consumers of these technologies who integrate these products into their lives without displaying any kind of skepticism towards them, primarily because they are tricked into believing that these are better alternatives to natural God-given resources. For instance, we find countless blaring advertisements suggesting that their products kill 99.99% of bacteria or germs. We’ve all come across countless advertisements like these, produced by greedy corporations to reel in gullible audiences around the world.
And even if this 99.99% figure is true, what these advertisements are implicitly saying is that just plain water is not enough and will lead to homes being ridden with disease, which of course doesn’t make sense, since water did the job just fine for thousands of years. What has changed all of a sudden, such that we now so desperately need these products which wipe out 99.99% of germs while also destroying our lungs, instead of plain old water that washed away the germs too, while also preserving our organs? Absolutely nothing. It is just their greed that forces them to so blatantly deceive us in these ads, and it is our gullibility and the perceived dependence on tech that they’ve psychologically ingrained in us through constant positive reinforcement that pushes us to buy them.
The Negative Health Consequences of Hand Sanitizers
Hand sanitizers are another class of products used for excessive hygienic purposes, wiping out all the bacteria on one’s skin, including the useful skin flora, which are microorganisms that have been placed by Allah onto our skin to naturally act as a defense mechanism, fighting and preventing external pathogens from entering the skin. Moreover, excessive use of sanitizers also damages the skin, raising the risk of infection even further, as our skin too is itself a physical barrier against pathogens.A study was conducted in Saudi Arabia looking at the effects of excessive sanitizer usage during the Covid “scam-demic,” focusing particularly on how the skin was affected:
So again, why not just stick to water? Imagine destroying your skin (which would be a nightmare particularly for young women of marriageable age) and predisposing yourself to more infections by weakening the body’s first line of defense, all just to avoid a disease only as dangerous as the common flu, something for which water would have more than sufficed.27.6%, reported dermatitis symptoms such as burning sensations, swelling, itching, or dryness, underscoring the dermatological impact of frequent sanitizer use.
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Moreover, more severe conditions such as skin rash (31.7%), peeling (29.2%), and ulcers (23.3%) indicate the risk of long-term dermatological issues that could arise from prolonged sanitizer usage, especially with products that may not be suited to all skin types.
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Notably, the frequency of hand sanitizer use emerges as a critical determinant, with application more than six times per day significantly heightening the risk of dermatitis, as observed in 71.4% of those with frequent use (P = 0.003).
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Another study conducted in Indonesia revealed that the incidence of irritant contact dermatitis due to the use of hand sanitizers is 33.5%.[13] Another study in Iran found that the prevalence of hand dermatitis among hospital staff was 88.02%.[14] The similarity of our community-based findings in Jazan to these studies, which focused on healthcare settings or regions, underscores how widespread dermatitis has become a side effect of heightened hand hygiene during COVID-19 across diverse populations.
What Islam Teaches Us About Excessiveness
Here we find another valuable lesson taught to us by Islam, i.e., that excessiveness in anything is bad, even if it involves hygiene. We can see here that the purpose of creating these products, be it household cleaning products or sanitizers, was to increase hygiene and cleanliness by completely wiping out all germs. However, it was only realized when it was too late that such excessive hygiene is actually quite detrimental, and the pre-existing natural alternative is actually the best resource available.Consider the following prophetic narration and commentary:
We are taught to be moderate and not to indulge in excessiveness or obsess after things that are unnecessary. After all, there is another famous saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We, with our limited minds, perceptions, and knowledge, are incapable of seeing the full picture, which is why we are not able to fully appreciate the immense depth of the blessing that is water. This is precisely why modern technology so often results in negative consequences that far outweigh any intended upsides, as the full picture is not – and cannot be – taken into account by its architects.Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reports that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “Din (religion) is easy. Whoever makes Din too hard for himself will be overpowered…” (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 39)
This Hadith simply means that there is never an end to optional ‘ibadah that can be carried out. However if one exerts himself too much, this may lead to becoming lax with the Fard actions, therefore carry out everything in moderation. (Refer: Fathul Bari)
RELATED: Why Cars Have Been a Disaster for Humanity
Imagine a critic of a clock focusing only on a few isolated cogs and ignoring the rest of the elements by which the clock runs smoothly. By only focusing on a few specific cogs, he decides to arrange them in a manner that he thinks is better than the already existing arrangement. However, because he didn’t take the entire structure and mechanism into account, he fails to realize that these cogs were placed in such a way precisely to make them run smoothly along with the rest of the cogs and all of the other parts. As a result, his arrogance and lack of knowledge throws the entire system out of balance, rendering it useless. This is a fitting analogy for those who promote the replacement of the natural resources bestowed upon us by Allah with modern technologies, causing far more harm than any good that had been perceived.
How Can Muslims Avoid the Technocratic Trap?
As time progresses, more and more of these technologies are being developed and integrated into society, and they keep plunging humanity into a deeper and deeper pit of misery. The question is, if it takes years or decades to realize the very real downsides of these technologies, then how can one identify this beforehand, averting the technological side-effects before they transpire? The answer is that our default reaction should be that we have a high level of skepticism towards any technology that claims to out-perform a natural mechanism set in reality by Allah; and to be resistant and extremely hesitant when it comes to adopting it into one’s life. For this, Muslims need a sense of pride and integrity that prevents them from blindly following the crowd and going along with the flow of the current that the rest of the world is drowning in. We are servants of Allah and followers of the blessed Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and, as such, we should not be so easily impressed or overawed by commercials and advertisements and new “research” that showcases modern technologies as wondrous possessions and systems without which mankind cannot survive.For instance, just look at how fiercely medical technologies like vaccinations are pushed down our throats. Was humanity not doing just fine already without them? These governments and elites have used fear and the prospect of pleasure and convenience to grip our hearts and transform us into slavish consumers who will do whatever they say, whenever they say. To be obedient little cattle who place all their trust in so-called “scientific experts” without question, as if their word was revelation. And then we attack and denounce those who show even the minimal amount of skepticism as uneducated ignoramuses. Where is our dignity, honour, and faith in Allah?
As Muslims, we should try to avoid using these technologies where possible. Now, just to be clear, I’m not telling people to go and become hermits on top of a mountain, and I understand that, given the part of the world you find yourself living in, there is some degree of technology that one sometimes can’t avoid, as is the nature of the modern world. However, there is no need to overindulge and go into excess in following this broken system and abiding by it so strictly. Unfortunately, there were so many Muslims during the Covid era who fell for the propaganda and were scrubbing their hands with sanitizers 99 times a day, wearing masks 24/7, etc. And unfortunately, I was among the foolish crowd that ended up getting vaccinated, not because I thought it was necessary but because I was too careless to consider there could be any harm involved in getting the shot. This was a foolish mistake that I admit to having made, and it is a mistake that I have learnt from.
The believer is not stung from the same hole twice. So, for all of us who fell for these traps the first time around, we must ensure that we are not made fools of again. And one huge reason that we all need to be better at not falling victim to this façade is so we can pass down these values to our children. Because the way things are going, technology is only going to make the world a much worse place. And either in our time or the time of our descendants, a time will come when it will be impossible to live within technocratic dystopias without losing one’s Islam entirely. It is only if we adopt vigilance and skepticism against modern technology today, while opting for natural and healthier God-given resources, that we can instill the same passion for nature and disdain for modern tech in our children, so that they too are able to make the right choices for the betterment of the Muslim ummah in the future.
May Allah make our children among those who uplift the Muslim ummah and are religiously devout protectors and guardians of Islam. Amin.
Article (Archive)
