Friday, December 3, 2010

Is Watching TV Haram?

In the Name of Allah,

All praise is due to Allah, the creator and the sustainer.

I had many stories to tell from hajj, but I will do that some other time. Some thing that occupied my mind for a while, and I received many questions on this, when I sent the warning on Jadoo TV. The big question that many practicing muslims wonder is whether watching television Haram. (remember that non-practicing muslim would not care much either way, as they are done with Islam once walk out of Masjid)

Since I was a kid, we had a television set, and we watched the once a day program for kids, or once a day news cast, or once a day drama etc. It was usually a family affair, and the most we spent was 6 to 7 hours a week. In Pakistan, during those days, there was a fear of Allah, and programs were approved for modesty, and I don't recall anytime where my father would have got up and put his hand on my eyes and said that this is not for kids, or even close to it.

Unfortunately, last I visited Pakistan, some channels were so out of line that I had to look away from the screen as I was embarrassed. So, I don't think I need to mention the situation of TV channels in USA. Of course, there are channels and programs that are somewhat modest.

Now, if we are trying to follow Islam, how do we know if we can watch TV?

We have to look at several aspect of this act, and decide for each possibility of prohibition.

1. Is transmitting live video haram?

Making images is discouraged, if not prohibited in Islam, in general. This includes taking photographs for personal use. Exception have been given for picutres to identify someone. We should avoid as much as we can from taking pictures or let anyone take our pictures. Following hadith shows the sever punishment for that.

Hadith - Bukhari 3:428, Narrated Said bin Abu Al-Hasan

While I was with Ibn 'Abbas a man came and said, "O father of 'Abbas! My sustenance is from my manual profession and I make these pictures." Ibn 'Abbas said, "I will tell you only what I heard from Allah's Apostle . I heard him saying, 'Whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah till he puts life in it, and he will never be able to put life in it.' " Hearing this, that man heaved a sigh and his face turned pale. Ibn 'Abbas said to him, "What a pity! If you insist on making pictures I advise you to make pictures of trees and any other unanimated objects."

Hadith - At-Tirmidhi

"On the Day of Resurrection a neck will stretch forth from Hell; it will have two eyes to see, two ears to hear, and a tongue to speak. It will say, "I have been appointed to take care of three types of people: every arrogant tyrant, every person who called on some deity other than Allaah (swt) and those who made pictures" [at-Tirmidhi stated that this hadith was saheeh - at-Takhweef min an-Naar, p.179, See also Jaami' al-Usool, 10/518, the editor said its isnaad is hasan]

Hadith - Muslim, Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib

AbulHayyaj al-Asadi told that Ali ibn AbuTalib said to him: Should I not send you on the same mission as Allah's Messenger sent me? Do not leave an image without obliterating it, or a high grave without levelling it. This hadith has been reported by Habib with the same chain of transmitters and he said: (do not leave) a picture without obliterating it.

On the other hand, video broadcast that we don't capture or keep for non-educational purposes is exempt from this, becuase once we see it, it has disappeared, which is very close to our eye sight. Within our eyes, images are formed that are transmitted at a certain speed to show us what we see. So, the technology of television braodcast is halal.

2. Are there some programs prohibited?

Every intelligent person should come to this conclusion that even if TV technology is halal, there could be transmissions that are prohibited to watch, as they are prohibited to see from our eyes.

I am not going to list all, but here are some.

a) Musical instruments are haram.

Hadith - Bukhari 7:494

Narrated Abu 'Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash'ari that he heard the Prophet saying, "From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks, and the use of musical instruments as lawful.


b) Indecent or shameful acts are haram to watch or perform.

When they do aught that is shameful, they say: "We found our fathers doing so"; and "Allah commanded us thus": Say: "Nay, Allah never commands what is shameful: do ye say of Allah what ye know not?" (Quran 7:28 )

c) Watching after hearing Adhan, or missing salat due to TV is haram.

And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing, etc.) to mislead (men) from the Path of Allah without knowledge, and takes it (the Path of Allah, the Verses of the Qur'an) by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment (in the Hell-Fire). (Quran 31:6)

d) Anything on TV that leads to haram should be avoided as well.

3. Is it prohibited to entertain and pass time?

In general, Islam allows everything in our life, except a few, which means everything is halal, except which is explicitly prohibited. So, entertainment or passing time is an importann aspect of life, and it is allowable. However, some may find more closeness to Allah in reducing the pass time and devoting to zikr of Allah.

There is a big warning sign here, because the entertainment and pass time should not take us away from Salat, or our responsibilities. If that happens, then anything we are doing becomes haram.

Now, we know that watching TV, in general, is allowed but we need to be careful on how and what we watch. I have struggled alot with this, because I loved entertaining myself through TV. Slowly, I have started to reduce the time, and eliminate haram content.

My suggestion is to improve our TV habbits slowly but consistently, but stop watching musical, and indecent programs right away, and never let this habbit delay your salat. I have seen the difference it has made in my life, and avoiding haram content has created more interest in Allah, because anything we see affects our state of mind.

In the end, I have to mention that some people are confused due to fatwaas from some scholars advising not to watch TV or making it haram. I have not seen a single fatwaas yet, but I see the following.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071220/asp/nation/story_8688288.asp

I don't know if it is true about Deoband, but if it was, they are not prohibiting it but suggesting avoidance to prevent slipup. Also, the word "Fatwaa" means "legal opinion" not a law, which means if the evidence supporting that opinion is not sound we can reject it. Of course, if you lack knowledge to evaluate the evidences, you find trusted opinions until someone can provide stronger evidence refuting it and are easy to interpret.

Please don't make things haram for yourself that are halal, and make it easy on yourself to follow the beautiful religion of Islam. Balance is the key.

Salman al-Farsi reported that when the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) was asked about animal fat, cheese, and fur, he replied, "The halal is that which Allah has made lawful in His Book and the haram is that which He has forbidden, and that concerning which He is silent He has permitted as a favor to you." (Reported by al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.)

If you beleive in Allah, and the day of judgement, let us take an oath to not let television corrupt our minds or miss the duties toward Allah and his creation, but enjoy it if we wish in the proper way.

JazakAllah Khairin
A struggling muslim
AbuArman (Adnan)

17 comments:

  1. Nicely put. Thank you. I do have a question you said "
    Salman al-Farsi reported that when the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) was asked about animal fat, cheese, and fur, he replied, "The halal is that which Allah has made lawful in His Book and the haram is that which He has forbidden, and that concerning which He is silent He has permitted as a favor to you." (Reported by al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.)" But also "Hadith - Bukhari 7:494

    Narrated Abu 'Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash'ari that he heard the Prophet saying, "From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks, and the use of musical instruments as lawful.
    " This seems contradictory to me, because in the Quran it doesn't make music haram but only in the hadith. Thus if one hadith says all that is haram is in the book clearly stated and another says otherwise, I'm confused. I heard of a hadith that a certain phrase included music but was not clearly mentioned in the Quaran. Hope you can help me with this question. Thank you and Allah Bless you. Ramadan Mubbark.

    Also quoted quotes on pictures I wanted to know if that included emoticons such as :) or just clearly stated human figures. Thus I assume posters are Haram too?

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  2. Thank you for reading my article.
    1) It is not a contradiction, because the first hadith is talking about food prohibition which are clearly mentioned by Allah, and everything else is halal. If we ask about something that is not mentioned to be prohibited, it may become prohibited. So, the Prophet is advising not to ask too many question about it and just eat what is not prohibited specifically.
    2) Islam is compose of two sources. One is the speech of Allah (Quran), and the other is the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. In the Quran, Allah makes it clear that Anything that Muhammad orders is from Allah.

    "O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you." ( Quran 4:59)

    "...And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from..." ( Quran 59:7)

    In the last sermon of the Prophet, he clearly told us that he is leaving behind two things. Allah's book, and his Sunnah.

    So, if Allah is asking us to obey the Messenger separate from obeying Allah, what does that mean. It means that any hadith that is authentic is from the Prophet (PBUH). Usually we obey a command to do something, or a command of prohibitions. Both are part of obedience to the messenger.

    If we say that we only obey what is in the Quran, it seems illogical to have a prophet.

    So, that is why it is part of the testification of a muslim to declare that "There is no God but Allah, AND Muhammad is his Messenger".

    If the hadith about the prohibition of music is authentic, we are obliged to obey it.

    And Allah Knows best.

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  3. I m very much thankful to you for writing this article. I thought TV is haram and it was secretly eating me. Thank you very much. This article has helped a lot.

    Jazakallah-hu-khairan.

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  4. Bhai Thankyou so very much..The same thing is eating me too...Thanku so much...May AllAh showers His BLessings to You and to All umaah...

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  5. Assalamualaikum. Zazakallah khair for writing this article. i have a question. Watching negative things is definitely not allowed. But photography is haram. So, as the TV is the result of photography, is it haram?

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  6. WaAlaykum AsSalam,
    What is prohibited is "Tasveer", which is an arabic word for creating a likeness of something. So, if you generalize that prohibition, then anything that has an image of a living thing is prohibited and need to be destroyed. A shampoo bottle, or a news paper, or an id card, etc. If someone apply this general prohibition, then that person should not watch TV, as it is prohibited for him.
    However, according to the Sunnah, the Sharia is not applied literally unless it is regarding the unseen aspects, which we can not add or delete from without help of Allah. When it comes to applying Sharia to activities that are slightly variable or newly invented, scholars use ijtihad or their understanding to determine if the prohibition applies. In general, scholars do not apply prohibtion of Tasveer to all modern photographs, then when it comes to video, larger number do not apply the rules of photograph, then when it comes to live transimission, even larger number of scholars do not apply the rules of photograph. So, the best opinion is that the prohibition of Tasveer does not apply to transimission.

    However, some scholars do prohibit TV transmission, on basis of possible corruption due to content, which is a separate point, and not part of your question.
    So, unless you follow a very narrow opinion of every image is haram, TV is not haram for you. If you still like to stay away from it, because you have a doubt, it is better for you and is a higher form of piety. I hope this clarifies it. My email is adnan.jumani@gmail.com.

    JZK
    AbuArman Jumani

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. I have a question that is Can we listen to islamic music?

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  9. Thank you for great information that you shared. Discussing TV or Film in detail, what comes in my mind is still not addressed here. If you refer yourself to "Hijab & Quran/Ahadees" than Do you think acting, programme anchoring, newscasting and other relevant professions are allowed for woman?

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  10. your article is completely wrong. the sin of those who now watch television because of your article will be on your head. delete this comment if you like but know Allah knows

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    1. AssalamuAlaykum, I appreciate the feedback. It is possible that I made mistake in it. If there are mistakes, it is certainly my fault. If I got it right, it is from Allah's guidance.

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  11. check out this site http://www.missionislam.com/family/ill_effects_of_television.htm

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    1. TV is a very powerful medium just like internet, and Telephone, and Radio. However, it depends upon how you use it. Article you shared takes a very extreme view without any regard for positive that can come from TV. I hope others if not you can see the difference between evil use of a resource, and resource itself.

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  12. Thank you for making this article. I have a few questions here and there:
    1. What about news program (not gossips really), it has music and i need to watch it to keep updated.
    2. My family is not uneducated in Islam, even my parents used to be very practicing (ex: in my country it's very scarce to held a reception party where the female and male guests are separated). Tho they are still practicing and frequently will give sermons in a small group (i don't know what it's called). But we are still a music-listener. We almost can't live without music. Actually i had known the ruling about music long ago, same with my family i think. And i have started to reduce the amount of music i listen to and now i only play guitar once a week. My efforts, tho not completely effective it still works. The problem is, i can't do anything but listen to the music when in car or school. I don't have the gut to tell them "turn it off, music is haram". Especially to my friends, i don't want to make them feel Islam is opressing and hate islam because there are too mamy what we can't do. That's why it's the biggest obstacle for me to stop watching and listening the haram things. The temptation is too big, i admit my iman is very weak. I can't help but singing when i hear music. In my country not many people know the ruling about music, even my religion teacher when i asked them about music instruments they said "it's okay as long it used as the media for dakwah". We even celebrate Phropet Muhammad's birthday! And i can't do anything but participate in it! Please give me advice! Sorry if my questions are out of context

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    1. Assalamu Alaikum Annisa . Though I may not be able to provide you with a perfect advice but surely as a muslimah its my duty to atleast make an effort to share the little which I know about our beautiful religion Islam. Firstly , I truely appriciate that you admit your mistake and your concern about it. Your realization itself is worth appreciating you because in today's world we all are so much immersed in the worldy pleasures that we have made religion a seconadry part of our life. But seeing your effort to realize your mistake and then trying to rectify is really something which made me reply to your comment.
      Regarding the problem your facing, I must say that its quite natural to feel music and songs pleasing as its the human nature . You , I or anyone would find it soothing. But dear sister ,this life which is temprory is a test for we muslims. We ought to follow the commandments of our creator, Allah who is the ever lasting, the merciful. He is our creator and he knows what is best for his beings. So if anything is prohibited or haraam in islam, surely betterment lies in it which we humans may fail to understand as its beyond our wisdom.
      This life is undoubtly a deception.

      “…Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter” (Quran, Al-Tawbah: 38).
      “And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. But far better is the house in the hereafter for those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious). Will you not then understand?” (Quran, Al-An’aam: 32)

      Lastly, I would say that each one has to face Allah swt on the day of judgement. We need to make efforts for the eternal success which is 'Jannah' and in order to gain that eradicating the prohibited acts is the key. First and foremost , be extra caution about the deadliest sin ' SHIRK'(associating partners with Allah).


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  13. Asalam o alikum
    Thanks for this article but i have some questions
    So i live in a place where music is normal. I try my best to stop listening music but still there is music in malls, shops and even in school. The drama i watch is acually pakistani (i dont live in pakistan) they also have music. My main point is will i be panished for listening songs in malls and its not my intention to listen them.
    Please answer my question i am very tensed by my problem.

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