• One common mistake is to think that lowering your gaze is only required upon encountering nakedness and indecency "in the flesh" or in person.
• Lowering our gaze must also be practiced when watching a film or television program replete with nakedness and intimate scenes of couples (actually, we should try to avoid watching such types of programs, period!)
• Lowering our gaze includes changing the channel when "Baywatch" comes on. It also means changing the channel when watching the news if we feel attracted to the anchorperson or reporter reading or presenting the news. And anyway, television isn’t that great of a way to spend time.
• Also, don't go to the beach or anywhere else you’ll find a plethora of bikini- and swimming-trunk clad men and women.
• Lowering your gaze there is virtually impossible. You may turn in one direction, thinking you’re home-free, but soon enough you can’t even look there.
• The same holds true for parks. While this doesn’t mean never taking the kids out to enjoy the slides and see-saws or having barbecues there, it does mean perhaps having activities on days that are cooler, or at times when the sun is not as hot and intense (i.e. some time in the earlier morning or before Maghrib).
• This way, the prime time for sunbathing has passed, and most people either leave or feel cool enough to put some more clothes on.

Make Du'a

• "Never underestimate the power of Dua," Imam Khalid Griggs once said. This holds true in all trying situations.
• Sometimes, despite avoiding certain places where you are more likely to encounter an improperly dressed person, you may find someone walking on the street going to the beach or the park who decided to get ready for suntanning or swimming beforehand.
• In these cases, lowering the gaze may be even harder. You weren’t expecting it, so you didn’t mentally prepare yourself.
• If you feel overwhelmed, one suggested Dua to read is: Awdhu billahi Sami’il 'Aleem minash Shaytan ir Rajeem" [41:36]. A translation of this is "I seek the refuge of Allah who is the Hearer and Who is the Knower of all from the Shaytan the accursed".
• In general, seek refuge in Allah. It has also been suggested to say La hawla wa la Quwwata illa billah (there is no power except with Allah). If we sincerely make Dua, insha-Allah, we can succeed in turning our eyes away.

[by Dr. Hesham Abdullah