So I was in
my hostel room sitting on the bed after a long tiring day in class, exhausted.
It was then I noticed my nails had grown too much. I used to get plenty of time
off earlier, but now the schedule is a bit jammed. So it was no wonder, why I didn’t
notice. I got a nail-cutter and was
about to start doing it, when suddenly my room-mate told me :
“Don’t do
it now”
“What?”
“Cutting
nails”
“Meaning?”
“It’s
already seven. You can’t cut nails past six ’o’clock”
“Man, you
can’t be serious”
“Trust me.
Don’t do it now”
“I have
time now only. So I want….”
Cutting my
words mid-sentence he said:
“It brings
bad luck”
Oh that’s it.
Now I got it. Cutting nails past six ‘o’ clock brings bad luck. I didn’t know
this one before.
Not to blame anyone; This article is first a
reminder to myself rather than others. There was a time when I used to believe
in all this.
I believed the fate of a particular day
depended upon the first person you meet that day. I have heard tons of time the
famous line “Black cats crossing your path bring bad luck”. I remember my
mother telling my sister not to knit clothes at night. I have seen people
putting a black mark behind others ears so as to not get affected by evil eyes-
Nazar uthaarna, as they call it.
If your
eyes start twitching, you are doomed for bad days. Every time you sneeze, congratulations- someone
is remembering you.
If you see
a crow cawing outside your window, it’s time for some guests to arrive.
When
someone starts a journey, don’t call them from behind- Mind it..! :D
The most famous
one is “Newly-wed Brides decide the
state of her future house”.
Ok enough with
the never ending list. This is quite embarrassing.
Why such
beliefs?
We want to
feel in control: This is how we think “As long as I am staying away from black
cats I won’t get bad luck.” I love cats.
Poor beings, they are blamed for things that are not their fault.
We are
insecure: Courage is the most rare personality trait. Not the courage to fight
some thugs, but the courage to believe that we ourselves are responsible for
the events happening in our lives, not cutting nails at night or in the morning.
We are
stressed: We desperately want reasons for all the misfortunes we come across.
We ought to
be rational in our beliefs and it should not limit us from leading full normal
life. It’s a big irrational illogical belief that actions or circumstances that
are not related to a course of events can influence its outcome. If we open the
door to superstition, the world will become hard for us and we will imagine
that everything is a bad omen.
It’s high
time we stop focusing on things that don’t have a practical effect on our lives.
Allah says
in the Qu’ran about the people of Pharoah:
“But
whenever good came to them, they said: ‘Ours is this.’ And if evil afflicted
them, they ascribed it to evil omens connected with Moosa and those with him.
Be informed! Verily, their evil omens are with Allah” [7:131]
Prophet(peace
and blessings upon him) said :
“Tiyarah is
Shirk”. Tiyarah refers to the superstitious belief in omens.
“Superstition
sets the whole world in flames” - Voltaire.
