Sex, Drugs And Rock N Roll

Sex, Drugs And Rock N' Roll: Or Is There More to Life?

By Abdur Raheem Green

Introduction: Beyond the Surface

Today's topic seems it's a popular title. Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. Actually the title is supposed to have a small subtitle underneath it: Or is there more to life? Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll or is there more to life?

Now what today's talk is not about, what it's not about is me going through the Islamic rulings on illicit sexual intercourse, the psychological, the sociological problems and evils that such a thing causes. This talk is not about me going through the Islamic ruling on drugs and drink and all forms of intoxication and why they are haram and all the psychological, physical and sociological detrimental effects that intoxication has upon the individual and the society and the family. This talk is not about the rulings from the Quran and the Sunnah as to why music is haram and what are the detrimental effects on the individual and the soul concerning music.

Understanding the Philosophy

This talk is about something much more fundamental than that. This talk is about sex, drugs and rock and roll as a philosophy, as an ideology, as a mentality, as a way of thinking and a way of living and an attitude to life. Because that's what it is, when we say sex and drugs and rock and roll it is a catch phrase, a catch phrase for a particular mentality, a particular viewpoint on life that people have and this is what we want to talk about because this stands for an attitude to life that says there's no hellfire, there's no paradise, there's no day of judgment, there's no God, you have one life, so you might as well live it, you've got one short little life and you're not going to have another one, when you're dead, the worms are going to eat you, that's it, so you might as well enjoy life, have fun and how are you going to have fun? Sex, drugs and rock and roll.

The Secular Consumer Society

This is the mentality and the ideology of the western society in which we live, the western society which is the consumer society, the Coca-Cola culture, because we don't live in a Christian country. Australia is not a Christian country, England, Europe, they are not Christian countries, these are countries that have adopted a secularist outlook. In other words, as far as they are concerned, God and religion have nothing to do with the way they run their lives, they run their governments and they run their business. Religion is your own personal thing, do it if you want to but don't get it involved in business, don't get it involved in politics.

But it's more than that and it's more far-reaching than that because this society preaches and teaches a particular attitude to life, a particular outlook and that outlook is that the way to be successful in life, the way to get through life, the way to be happy is by surrounding yourself with the material possessions. Buy this, have this,

drink this, take that, have this car, take this holiday and if you surround yourself with enough of these things you will reach happiness.

The Propaganda of Materialism

And so you see we are bombarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with these images, this propaganda, this brainwashing that takes place. Have this, buy this, drink this and look at the adverts, look at the advertisements and you will see the message that they are conveying.

We used to have an advert in England, an advertisement for Bacardi, for those innocent individuals that don't know what Bacardi is, it's a type of alcoholic drink, it's a brand name and the advert for Bacardi, this was about 5 years ago, they had one of these big posters, huge ones about the size of the stage and on the poster was a blue sky, blue seas, white sands, palm trees hanging down, two bikini clad girls walking down the beach and the caption read: a rainy Sunday night in Peckham if you're drinking Bacardi.

A rainy Sunday night in Peckham if you're drinking Bacardi. A rainy night which is the worst type of weather, the worst type of weather is the night when it is rainy, certainly it is in England anyway. Sunday is the worst day of the week because Monday you have to go back to work, back to the 9 to 5, back to the grind, the weekend is finished and it's Sunday night and worst of all you're in Peckham. And Peckham is a place in London, it is a really nasty place in London, a really grim, horrible, I used to live there actually and I tell you they couldn't have chosen a better place to name you know, it's one of those places if you live there it makes you wish you emigrated to Australia, right, it's that bad. Australia is a very nice place.

So a rainy Sunday night in Peckham but if you're drinking Bacardi what will be like? Everything will be fine, it will be like you're in paradise, paradise. So you drink this drink and you'll be happy.

The Coca-Cola Culture

The Coca-Cola culture they call it. You see the adverts for Coca-Cola, you see them there, they are drinking nice, cool, ice-cool Coke. Who? This beautiful nubile woman, blonde hair, perfect features, perfect shaped body, dissimilarly a man, rippling muscles, his six pack, his arms rippling, brown, tanned and the ice-cool Coke and you're going I want some of that. It's not the Coca-Cola you want because I mean what's Coca-Cola? It's sugar and caramel and caffeine, right? It's the image that's in front of you, that beautiful woman, that happy, smiling people drinking the nice, cool, ice-cool Coke and Coke is it, Coke is life.

But what's the reality? What's the reality? The reality is of course if you drink Coke you get fat, you don't look young and beautiful but it's not, it's not selling you a product, it's selling you a lifestyle, it's selling you a mentality. What are they telling you? Drink this and you'll be like that, have this and you'll be like that, drink Bacardi, you'll be in paradise, drink our drink and along with it, you know, you see the this is how they sell their products, they're selling a mentality.

The False Equation: Wealth Equals Happiness

But it's these material things they're telling you and just like Coca-Cola it's a life, it's a life. Wealth does not equal happiness, wealth does not equal success, these material things do not necessarily in any way make you happy. In fact the whole of this is an illusion.

It's a religion in fact, it's a religion like any other religion. It has its priests, it has its gods, it has its acts of worship and devotion that you give to these, they have their prophets or prophetesses, it has its theologians. We have the theory of evolution, the theory of evolution is one of the great theological justifications for the materialistic society because basically the theory of evolution is telling you what, what's it telling us? That basically we came from monkeys, right, or to be more accurate we and monkeys share our ancestry from a common primate but basically we came from the monkeys, right. There's no god that created us, we don't need a god, we just evolved bit by bit, stage by stage.

So basically what are we, we are basically according to this theory advanced monkeys, really we are animals, basically we are animals like, so that's what they tell us, we are basically advanced monkeys, right. How do you make a monkey a happy monkey? Give a man monkey a woman monkey, right, give him some bananas and keep him safe from predators and basically this constitutes the be all and end all of what is important in the life of a monkey. So similarly the western society, the consumer society, the material that believes that fundamentally man is a material being that we have evolved from this animal, we are basically advanced animals slightly, give the human being food, give the human being shelter, make sure the human being has some means of satisfying their sexuality.

The Economic Ideology

You know if you can't find a member of the opposite sex to do it don't worry and don't worry if the few depraved individuals who still haven't found some and you're going to be able to get married to some and the body suit is going to have so that's what they tell us because every time you see now look at the people today down in those docks in Melbourne ready to die, ready to die, jointing arms, the police are coming for what? For money. These people are ready to lay down their literally a few dollars more because that when your government comes to be elected into power it's the economy they say.

Women leave the home, leave being chained to the sink, a slave to your husband and your children, go and work, work because why? If we have more people working we have more economic output, we have more economic output we have a richer society, therefore women will be money, have more money, women will have more money, we'll all be more happy. That's what they say, that's their idea because to them money equals happiness, it's their equation, that is their simple message.

So they always talk about this. I remember reading in the Economist magazine, famous magazine, they said the western society more than any other society in the history of humanity has succeeded in satisfying the material

needs of man. Well you know when I read that you know I thought ok first of all it's not true actually but secondly so what? So what?

The Reality: Misery Fuels Consumption

Because let's look at the reality now. The reality like the coca cola advert is quite different from the picture. Wealth does not equal happiness at all. In fact the consumer society relies upon people being miserable, it needs people to be miserable, it can't stand that people should actually be in reality content and happy because miserable people consume.

It is miserable people who need to spend their miserable lives watching the titanic, watching neighbours and home and away, I'm serious. Miserable people need to fill their miserable lives with hours and hours of music, fantasy, entertainment, fashion, intoxication. Why? Why do people spend so much time and so much money and so much effort in trying to escape from reality, to escape from reality and that's what it is. Hollywood is in the business of dreams, dreams.

The Fantasy of Escapism

I don't know, I haven't seen that film Titanic so I can't speak about it but there's a film I saw because everyone was raving about it, I thought I had to, when someone told me what it was about I thought I have to see this, it sounded so stupid I said I had to see it and this was this film Independence Day, right. You know they would be oh it was fantastic, you should have seen the White House blow up.

So this film you talk about escapism and fantasy, right, look at this, these aliens travel all the way across the universe in these massive massive spaceships so big there's one big mothership and from the mothership comes the little ships and the little ships are nearly as big as a city and they come to destroy the earth but don't worry it's the 4th of July, it's the 4th of July and America you know has got a president who just happened to be an ex-pilot in the Gulf War, he's well trained right.

So what happens is in this amazing film is a he has to be Jewish right, a Jewish young boy right decides that the way to get rid of these aliens is by planting a computer virus upon their spaceship so he gets his floppy disk on which he has written his computer virus right, flies up in a captured alien spaceship which just happens to have a second world war joystick for flying these aliens haven't heard of fly by wire right, just happened that's very nice, they fly up there ok and they plant this computer virus on the alien spaceship, fantastic isn't it.

These aliens travel all the way across the universe, can you imagine the technology they must have needed to amass for all of that, yet in spite of all of this these aliens didn't have a virus checker aboard their computer system but don't worry it's the fault of Jehovah.

You know there used to be when I used to go to the American speaker's corner there was a little guy heckler they just come to make nuisance, he said something very funny, he said America didn't need to win the war of Vietnam, he said they won it in the movies, they won it in the movies you know Rambo and all the rest of it.

The Cycle of Misery

It's well what is it it's fantastic what sort of miserable person sits down watching that type of stuff and actually why, why do people spend they go and get drunk and you know what I don't know if any of you have a university you don't have to be a university this is the idea of these guys having a good time they come home three o'clock in the morning they come back from a night of drinking they are violently sick and they fall asleep you know in their own sleep they wake up the next morning you know I had a really good time last night however you say it here right whatever you say in England we had a war he had a good time.

And look you know when you take drugs what happens I go it is describing a state of self when you have reached a state when you have forgotten yourself when you have removed yourself from yourself is this a description is this a description of people who are happy, no this is not a description of people who are happy, this is a description of people who are desperately running away from reality and the only time they can seem to get a moment of relief is when they escape into this world of fantasy.

Take away their fantasy, take away their music and then you will see how really happy they are. Similarly I remember watching a documentary about rape I don't know if had these things on us it was all a rape to have a rape right these guys would like meet up in the middle of the countryside so one of these things 7 o'clock in the morning and the guy the people died and this guy was soaked in sweat there he was and this is what it's about fantasy and escapism.

The True Enemy of the Consumer Society

So you have to understand whose people at the top of this they are the ones who produce the magazines, the fashions, the movies, the alcohol, all these things that you consume consistently and consistently they are the ones, they don't want you to be happy, they don't, they need you to be miserable because miserable people consume, miserable people need to fill their miserable lives with all of these things to try and make their misery a little bit better.

So in reality it is a society that actually needs people to be miserable, it needs them to be miserable and it knows that the people at the top they know that and that is why religion, religion in general but not religion only in general but most specifically Islam is the greatest enemy to this false lying and devious philosophy, the philosophy of the consumer society of the sex drugs and rock and roll culture. Islam is the greatest enemy because Islam gives contentment.

The Power of Contentment

People who are content do not consume. Someone who is content, ok so my walkman is 25 years old but it still plays the Quran, it still records the lectures I go to, what do I need a more fancy one for. Someone is content they are not always looking for the latest gadget, the latest this, the latest that because they know these people

The Reality of the Stars and Idols

But then let us look at them, the reality of these stars, these idols, a string of them one after the other and it is not a new thing, not only, not only what is his name, Kurt Cobain, is that his name, the other one from total excess or in excess whatever it was I can't remember his name he died here in Australia killed okay Hutchins whatever his name is I mean who cares right okay the guy hung himself right but you know not only them but let us go back let us go back to the supreme sex goddess Marilyn Monroe, beautiful, rich, famous, she had it all didn't she so how did she die, she killed herself, she committed suicide.

So if this is supposed to be the answer to life, the purpose of life, the reason of existence that surrounding yourself with these things is the source of happiness, where when we look at these people who have it all we seem to find the opposite. You look at the list of millionaires, Alexander Onassis, Howard Hughes, Rockefeller, the Getty family, read the biographies of these people, I don't think any one of you would want all their millions and have the life that they had.

The King of Rock and Roll

Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, the king, handsome, rich, famous, worshipped and adored by people, look at him, 40 years old, I remember I said I cried the day he died, Elvis Presley the king of rock and roll, 40 years old, he died from what, pharmaceutical drugs, the guy couldn't get up in the morning but he had to take pills, he couldn't go to sleep at night, he had to take pills, pills to get up, pills to go to sleep, pills to make him feel good, pills to make him feel bad, the guy was a drug addict, he died 40 years old. Does that sound like a happy person to you? Does that sound like success to you? All of those things what did it do for him?

And then you have queen what's that guy Freddie Mercury, Freddie Mercury suddenly disappeared for 2 years to find out the guy had AIDS, he retreated to his mansion and he died, you know what his dying words were? His dying words Freddie Mercury he said my friends were my friends only because of my money, I did nothing with my life and when I die people will forget me. And it's true, absolutely true, in 20 years time they'll go Freddie who? Freddie who?

Is that success? Is that happiness?

The False Philosophy Exposed

So these people, this society is a proof against itself, it needs people in reality to be miserable in order to exist. What could be more false? What could be more astray than the consumer society this mentality and philosophy, sex, drugs and rock'n'roll that's the purpose of life? No, what is the purpose of life? This is the question. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here?

It's clear that this mentality of materialism and that we are just material beings is false, it is false because the reality is that people are ready to deprive themselves of food, of shelter, of the companionship or sexual gratification, they will deny themselves all of these things, these so called things that are fundamental to the human nature because we are basically animals remember, but people are ready to forego all of that in order to fulfill their fantasies, to take their drugs, to drink so on and so forth, they are ready.

The Spiritual Dimension

What does that say? It tells anybody who is observant there is more to the human being than the material, that there is another side to the human being, something that needs to be satisfied, something that needs to be fulfilled that is an internal need. This desire for happiness, peace and tranquility is as important if not more important, yet the consumer society as much as it claims to be able to satisfy those needs it clearly cannot do it. The more you have the more you want.

So what is the purpose of life? Why are we here? For what reason do we exist? Let's think about that for a moment. Do we have a purpose?

The Question of Purpose

If I was to ask one of you, I can't see anyone what were you embarrassed? I got this black space in front of me anyway but if I was to ask one of you who was wearing glasses what are your glasses for? Say to help me see, your shoes, to protect my feet, your clothes, I don't know could someone tell me the jokes?

In fact if I took every single constituent part of your body, your eyes, your hair, your nose, your mouth, your hands, your feet, your legs, everyone could tell me what is the purpose of this part of my body. Similarly if we went beyond that, we said the sun, the moon, the stars, every one of them they have an identifiable purpose. Even the humble earthworm has a very important purpose in helping to re-fertilize the soil.

So therefore we want to ask this question, what is your purpose? For what reason do you exist? Is it possible that every single constituent part of your body has a purpose and has a function but you the totality has no purpose and no function? You carry in your pocket some keys, a piece of metal, it has a purpose and you the carrier of the keys has no purpose. Why are we here? For what reason do we exist?

The Emptiness Within

This is the question and it is the failure to understand the reality, to understand the answer to this question that is the emptiness in the human being that needs to be filled. How can you be happy if you don't even know the reason of your existence? How can you be fulfilled? How can you truly be at peace with yourself? Surely with our minds, our intelligence, all our capabilities, is this for nothing, just to what, eat, drink, have sex, listen to music, watch independence day, for this we, is this the reason? No, surely, surely there is another reason and this is where the religion of Islam brings the answer.

Because if we have this question and we all have this question and sometimes it takes something bad to happen in life for people to start asking themselves this question because a lot of people might say when you ask them what is the purpose of life they don't give you the answer what is the purpose of life as in what is the reason of the existence of the human being, they will say no they will think of something which they have decided they want to do with their life like they want to become a doctor right or you know the purpose of my life is my girlfriend or my boyfriend or I don't know to see Michael Jackson in concert or whatever or watch independence day.

Temporary Purposes vs. The True Purpose

So that might be the purpose of your life you think but it's the purpose in your life until your girlfriend leaves you, your girlfriend leaves you then you start putting your head in your hands what's it all for, you want to become a doctor you fail your degree why what's it all for, you suddenly realize that thing that you made the purpose of your life it fell away and you realize well that wasn't the purpose of life after all that was just some objective you had and some goal you wanted to reach.

But no we want to ask something more fundamental, why do we exist and how can we ever reach certainty, how can we ever reach definite absolute certainty about this question, the only way in fact is when the one who created us and the one who brought us into existence tells us and informs us of the reason of why he created us.

Divine Revelation: The Source of Certainty

And that is the reason or one of the reasons why Allah, he revealed, the creator, the one who created us who knows us better than we know ourselves, he revealed the Quran to inform us of the reason for which he created us and then how to fulfill that created purpose.

So the Quran tells us, the Quran which is from God, from Allah, from the creator of all things, the creator informs us that he brought us into existence and he did not create us for any other reason except to make ibadah of him.

"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me."

Understanding Ibadah (Worship)

What is ibadah? Sometimes you'll find the word ibadah translated as worship, this is a very unfortunate translation and we don't have an adequate word really in the English language because when you say worship in English you think of you know people think of going to the church once a week right or perhaps not even that, perhaps they think of Christmas you know that's it you know going on your knees once in a while right, maybe giving a bit of charity to the I don't know lost orphans of you know kaponka or something I don't know right, that's worship to them, you think what life? That's the purpose of life to do that is that it?

But this is a mis, this is not the idea, the Quran when the Quran talks about ibadah, worship, it is something much more comprehensive, much more comprehensive and the word ibadah or ibadah in Islam or worship in Islam can be defined as this: it is everything which the creator loves and approves of, it is everything which the creator loves and approves of whether it is the actions of the heart such as love, fear, hope, trust, reverence or reliance, these are some of the actions of the heart, or the actions of the limbs, what you do with your body.

The Comprehensive Purpose of Life

So the purpose of life, the reason for our existence is to make all of the actions of our hearts and the actions of our limbs actions that are those which are actions that the creator Allah loves and approves of. And the only way we can know and we can reach knowledge and certainty of those actions, beliefs, attitudes which the creator Allah loves and approves of, the only way we can know that is through his revelation, through what he revealed, the guidance he sent down.

And this is the great bounty and mercy of Allah that he did not leave us to guess, he did not leave us to wonder blindly through life speculating but he gave us a revelation and with this revelation he gave clear signs and clear proofs so that anyone could know with certainty that this Quran is from him and that he guided us to all the paths and all the ways of his pleasure and he warned us away from all the paths and all the ways to his displeasure.

True Peace Through Submission

So that the reality of the condition of the human being, the reality of the condition of the human being is that no heart can find rest, no human being can find true peace and true tranquility except in pure and sincere submission to the will of Allah to his will, to his laws, to his decrees.

"Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest."

And we have to understand something very important: every human being is a slave, every human being is a slave, we are all slaves to one thing or another thing, all of us without exception. Some people are slaves to fashion, some are slaves to their work, some to their business, some to their nationality, some and many are

slaves to many different masters at the same time, many different things they are enslaved to them believing that these things are the source of their success and their happiness so they follow them, they do the bidding of these things.

The Slavery to False Masters

So you see girls today for example they think and it goes back to what we started with, they think that look I want to be like that supermodel, I want to be like Elizabeth Pearson, Mamrie Campbell whatever it is, I want to look like her, I want to be like her because look so if I look like her so they are ready to kill themselves, they do, they do kill themselves, anorexia, bulimia, they make themselves sick, they starve themselves to death because they want to look like this image of beauty that has been put in front of them and they make sure that they buy the right clothes from the right shops because they want to reach that state, that's what they think.

And is that not slavery? Is that not being enslaved? And this is the case with everybody, everybody is a slave to something, most people are a slave but all of these masters are false masters, they will not treat their servants properly, in fact they abandon them and let them down, they are not guiding, they are really illusions themselves.

The Parable of the Slave

So who is better, who is better off, whose condition is a better condition, the one who is a slave to many masters and not only is this one a slave to many different masters but also each one of these masters is calling that slave in a different direction, one says come here, the other says no here, the other says no there, so you are constantly torn, who is better this person or the one who is a slave to one master and moreover this master is wise, knowing, just and kind.

This is the example of those people who are slaves to the world and the things of the world, this is the example of the people who are enslaved, they are like the one who is a slave to many masters and each one calls them in a different direction and the true believer is the one who is a slave to one master, one lord and moreover this lord is rightly guided and guides rightly with knowledge and wisdom.

The Creator Knows Best

Who knows us better than our own selves except the one who created us? Who knows us better than our own selves? The one who created us, it is Allah. So the hearts can never find rest, you will never find peace, you will never find tranquility, you will never find true happiness until you submit yourself to the purpose for which you have been created.

Everything else, everything else is merely you running away from your nature, you are running away from your own nature. Your nature is to worship Allah, your nature is to submit to him, your nature is to be a slave to him.

Conclusion: The Path to True Success

This brothers and sisters, may Allah have mercy on you and guide you upon the straight path. All slavery, all worship belongs to Allah alone and you will never find true peace. Verily, certainly it is in the remembrance of Allah, it is in remembering Allah, obeying him, doing that which he has commanded and in reality in this alone that you will find the true success, the true success of this life and the true success of the life to come.

And may Allah's peace and blessings be upon his last and final messenger Muhammad who guided us through his example how to seek the pleasure of Allah and how to be the perfect worshipper of Allah and how to find the true peace, the true success and the true happiness.

"O Allah, send prayers upon Muhammad and upon his family and companions and grant them peace."