I was a victim of ‘The Arrivals’ documentary
The well known ‘documentary’ came out in 2008. It was a production by wannabe film maker’s noreagar and archenahr about the coming of the dajjal, the Mahdi and Isa AS (Jesus pbuh). I had watched a few episodes in 2008/09 but stopped watching it because I lost interest. Recently, my sister and cousins had started watching the episodes on YouTube, they couldn’t stop talking about the episodes and soon enough I decided to give it another go, but this time I made sure I watched every part from part 1 to part 50 so that I not only had something to talk about with them, but also because I felt as though by watching this it would open my eyes and increase my knowledge of Islam, something that I was and still am thirsty for, but how wrong I was.
I now realise how watching those episodes on YouTube have done me no good and I feel ashamed to admit that I fell straight into the traps of shaytaan himself. As I was watching the arrivals I knew there was some things wrong with it, for example I know music in Islam is haraam, but I continued to watch assuming the music is just a part of the documentary, a minor issue. Then came the obscene and vulgar images of nudity and images of sexual nature, again I excused it thinking they’re only showing to show why these things are wrong. They said listening to music is wrong because it is a trick of the shaytaan, yet they played music throughout the whole documentary, music which still is stuck in my head taking up space which should be available for the remembrance of Allah. They talked about mind control and in my head I did think a few times maybe this documentary is trying to brainwash me through the music, I even felt like maybe there were subliminal messages within the music they played. But I was addicted I had to keep watching.
The more I watched the more I felt like they were speaking the truth in the documentary, I fell for the lies, yes, even the stuff about the aliens. I spent 8 hours of my life listening to and watching a documentary which in my heart I knew was not totally right, but the more I watched the more I felt like I was learning something, I even felt like I was using my time wisely, nauthubillah. After watching a few episodes on the freemasons, aliens, dajjal, jinns, magic etc I was even scared to go to sleep at night. I became so paranoid and realised that I kept looking out for images of the one eye and checkered patterns and pyramids and so on, if you were also a victim you will know what I’m talking about here.
After I had watched 40+ parts I became like my sister and cousins, a little obsessed with it, I was telling people about and felt obliged to let people know the so called truth. Then I told a friend of mine, who was very sceptical about the arrivals, to watch the documentary in its entirety from part one to fifty just to understand what I was talking about. This friend of mine had done a bit of research on the arrivals and was worried about me and the way I was becoming, they watched a few episodes and told me what they thought. I got so angry and hot headed I had a full on, passionate argument convinced that the Arrivals is not based on lies, I even came close to tears.
The best thing this friend did was told me that what they were saying is what the scholars of Islam are saying, and if a scholar was telling me this would I be arguing in the same way I was arguing at that moment, those few words released the lump in my throat, untied the blindfolds and the tears came streaming down, this was the point I realised that I was wrong all along.
Before going to pray Isha I thought I would look into what my friend was saying just so I know how to argue my case of ‘the arrivals is not that bad.’ So as you do, I Googled ‘the arrivals’ which came up with the videos and websites promoting it. Then I typed in ‘What the scholars say about the Arrivals documentary’ and came across this:
The only reason it is successful is because of the Hollywood-style visuals, and special effects, and because of Muslims love to hear apocalyptic stuff. It imputes some sort of importance on them and makes them realize Islam matters, but only in a way that they feel they cannot fulfill and therefore creates despondency. But at the same time it creates such paranoia, pessimism and cynicism that there is little benefit from watching 8 hours of that drivel. This is the crux of the criticism. It is misusing Islam to make Muslims feel they are weak and powerless, and moreover that evil is the norm of the world, the undeniable nature of this world is sin. The brothers I know who are obsessed with this have become very confused, only really have an eye for evil and obstinate in thinking they are gaining something from all this conspiracy theories, when it is only increasing their disillusionment, and pushing them away from Allah.
http://muslimology.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/scholars-respond-and-critique-the-arrivals-film-series/
This is exactly how I was feeling, I was beginning to think that we have been all doomed for centuries and that shaytaan and evil ruled the world. Looking back on it I do feel stupid and ashamed about how I could have believed anything so ridiculous. As soon as I finished praying I text my cousin telling her to find out what the scholars say about the documentary. She was just as shocked as I was and replied ‘is there anything we can trust?’
There are some aspects of the Arrivals that are true but these truths are mixed with lies and half truths, it was trying to teach us to not be deceived by shaytaan and his evil plans by deceiving us all along. I did however, learn a few good things from this documentary and those were that Allah is the greatest of planners and we should worship Him and Him alone. The arrivals documentary has done a few good things but it is not worth wasting 8 hours on it is confusing and contains a lot of things that are not accepted in Islam. From now on I will seek knowledge in books and facts rather than in the opinions, theories and conspiracies of man Insha’Allah.
This is a reminder for me just as much as it’s a reminder for you, we can trust only the word of Allah swt, the teachings of the prophet Muhammad saw, we can only learn from those who dedicate their lives to studying the Quran and Sunnah – the Ulama. And never again will I put my trust into any tom, dick and harry film maker wannabbe. Insha’Allah I have learnt my lesson once and for all.
This article was presented to me by an anonymous sister in response to the article The Arrivals - Bitter Lies Sweetened with Honey
