Fatwa #1471715 November 2006United States of America
I Understand the Hadeeth that Drawings in Islam is Prohibited as the Incident Goes With the Prophet and His Wife Who Was Sowing Some Animal Design on a Cloth and the Prophet Asked Her to Stop
Question
I Understand the Hadeeth that Drawings in Islam is Prohibited as the Incident Goes With the Prophet and His Wife Who Was Sowing Some Animal Design on a Cloth and the Prophet Asked Her to Stop.
http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=6930 refers.
Creating an Item That Has Eyes and Life is Prohibited, Like a Cat Animation Drawn on Paper is Impermissable, is this Correct. TV Does Not Create, It Only Shows What is Already There, its My Understanding that If you Take these Same Impermissable Animation Drawings and Display it On TV then this iS Incorrect, but isnt An Interview With a Person On TV Fine as You are Not Creating the Individuals. There Was This Similar Sort of Confusion About Modern Media & Technology With the Use of Microphones and Speaker Systems in Masjids Where People Were Thought To be Following a Voice on the Speaker and Not the Imam During Sallah. Isnt this Not the Confusion With TV as Visuals Exists in the Same Way Sound of A Voice Exists and the TV Only Gives This Medium Back, Just as the Speaker System Does. My Understanding is The Impermissable Drawings/Animations Shown on TV is Therefore Incorrect, Example: Cartoons Like Tom & Jerry, P0kem0n, etc, But Not Captured Visuals of Events.
Instant Chat Message Applications Now Available on Most Cellphones, Like MXIT, Say Between 2 Friends, Both Male and in the Conversation Smileys are used, Smileys Being the Emoticons For Smiles, Sadness, Crying, etc, it Has Eyes in it, it is Static, What then is Its Permissability? It is Differnt to Television, Cause its Static, And Is More Like a Drawn Picture with Eyes, But is Temporary, As Soon as You End the Chat It Disappears, I myself am in doubt about its Permissablilty, What is your Opinion on its Use? To Send it is a Sin, or Viewing it Is a Sin? or Both?
Understanding Optics Reveals that A Persons Eye Captures 13 Frames in a Second. And the Mind of a Person Fills in the Gaps to Complete the Story. Life has unlimited Frames per Second, In a Second You Capture 13 of them and Makes Decisions Accordingly. Television Displays Around 25 Frames Per Second. The Point Im trying to Make is In Both Cases 13 Still Images is What you See. I've Stated this cause Ulema Have Said that Objects With Eyes cause The Angels Not to Enter. I Understand this to Mean Dolls and Statues and Paintings with Eyes in Them. If You Say Television Visuals Fall into This Category Then The Point Made Above Where Life Itself is Moving Images With a Human Capable of Capturing 13 of Them a Second is My Argment Against it.
TV is Used As A Weapon By America, and a Non-Muslim Might Not Convert to Islam Because the News Projects World Events in A Negative Untrue Way of Islam, And People Believe these Fabrications and Forms the Basis of Them Not Accepting Islam Because of These Lies. I Often Show People at Work a Documentary about 9-11 Which Proves From the same CNN/BBC Video Footage of 9-11 That the Planes That Hit the Towers are Military and Had a Missles Attached to Them, The Planes Ignite Milliseconds Before Impacting the Towers And The Pentagon Could Never Have Been Struct By a Plane at All, Based on The Size Dimensions, but Was Bombed from Inside, All Of These facts Which We Would Never Know unless We Analyse Footage. America Needed the Support of its People to Go to War With Countries Accused of September 11th. But the 50 Million Americans That Gave Support Did Not All Witness 1st Hand the Planes and Manhatan City. They All Saw the Footage and Used that As Basis to Support the War.
Should We Then Not Use This "Weapon" to Prove Otherwise About the World Events Which They Blame Muslims For? I Understand TV as a Gun, Is Permissabilty is Determined on How it is Used, If I Kill an Innocent Person With a Gun, the Guns Use is Sinful, The Gun Itself is Not Haraam, The Act of Killing an Innocent However is, Similarity if I Use TV to Show Anination/Porn//Movies/Sport and Other Stuff Which Wastes Time Instead of Doing Worship Acts Instead, then its Use is Wrong. Documentaies Such As In Focus, Parables in The Quraan, News, Stairway to Paradise (IQRAA Channel), National Geographic Channel/Discovery Channel Are Avenues I Have Learned About Islam Which 5 Years Of a Islamic School Madressa and Additional 10 Years Madressa Did Not Teach Me.
Knowledge of This Modern Media Technology Was Given To us By Allah, That is Why I Think its The Way We Use it Which Justifies its Permissability(the Gun Example above Refers).
If You Still Say That TV is Wrong, My Question is Will Saying that it is Halaal to Watch TV Be Incorrect and Take Me Out Of Islam? Should I Regard it as a Sin if I Continue to Do It? Does TV Fall Under the Category of Doubtful? To Create A Documentary then With Interview where the Person is Visible, it is a Sin, or is it Only a Sin for the Person who Views the Visuals? or Both?
Answer
Muhtaram Brother/Sister in Islam
Assalamualikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu
Your questionnaire raises several issues:
1)Creating images of animate objects.
2)Capturing real life events using a camera and presenting it on screen.
3)Using smileys on cell phone chat applications.
4)Viewing television.
5)Using television as a weapon to combat the media.
6)Viewing Islamic educational programmes on television
1) Creating image's of animate objects,be it drawing on paper,sewing,threading or capturing pictures via camera is impermissible.
2)Capturing real life events on video camera and presenting them on screen is also impermissible as these images are actually being drawn and vanish very rapidly when portrayed on screen,therefore causing a moving effect.(Refer to book "Introduction To Photography")
3)Using smileys on cell phone chat applications is permissible as these smileys are diminutive.(smaller than the tip of ones finger).Such diminutive images are allowed in the shari'ah.(Raddul Muhtaar)
4)Viewing television is not permissible under any circumstance.The argument you present is illogical and flimsy.
5)The concept of "using television as a weapon to combat the media,hence it should be permissible out of necessity" is incorrect.One should steer clear of anything involving picture making as the warnings mentioned in the hadith are quit stern.It is not befitting of a Mumin (Believer) to soil his hands in anything that involves picture making,moreso the television which contains insurmountable filth and immodest ideas.
Unfortunately some scholars have erred in this regard and have permitted using television to combat the media based on necessity.We are compelled to state that the Deen of Allah is not in need of such filth to be promoted.Had the deen of Allah been in need to be promoted via television,Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam would not have prohibited picture making or mentioned such stern warnings regarding it,as whatever Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam said or did was actually from the side of Allah and Allah,s knowledge encompasses everything from creation till Doomsday and beyond that.
6)Viewing television for Islamic/Educational purposes is also impermissible.While modern technology for knowledge is indeed a gift from Allah Ta'ala,Islamic knowledge should be sought from its pure sources which are free from those things which Allah has ordained Haraam.Using the television is definitely not the way to gain Islamic knowledge as it contains a great amount of filth and vices.Also these so called "Islamic" programmes host non mahram females as well as music.Your claim that you have learnt more from the television than you have learnt from 10 years in the madrasah gives the hint that you did not spend your time correctly in the madrasah.
7)A person who is of the opinion thattelevision is Halaal is in total misguidance and is committing a heinous sin.However he will not fall out of the fold of islam.Television in no way falls under the category of doubtful.It is clearly impermissible.
8)It is not permissible to view images which are not permissible to create/capture.Hence both creator and viewer will be sinful.(Ahkaam e Tasweer,Mufti Muhammad Shafee)
And Allah Ta'ala knows best.
Moulana Suhail Tar Mohammed
Student: Darul Ifta
Checked and Approved:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
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