The Role of Media, Mosque Preachers, and Preachers in Raising Public Awareness of Religious Rulings

Question:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. The media has entered every home, Shaykh Salih. What is its role in this matter?

Answer:
Likewise, the media plays a major role in raising people’s awareness of matters of their religion, men and women alike. It is incumbent upon scholars to make use of these means and these programs, which have been made available to them, praise be to Allah.
The authorities, may Allah guide them, always ask scholars to participate in these curricula. It is obligatory for scholars to seize the opportunity and make use of these programs to enlighten people about matters of their religion and explain the rulings of the Shari'ah to them so that they may be enlightened in their religion. This is especially true regarding matters of worship and the five pillars of Islam, for these are matters that every Muslim must know. Every Muslim must learn what will straighten his religion, and ignorance of it is not permissible for him. This amount of knowledge and learning is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) for every Muslim. Likewise, it is incumbent upon mosque preachers. Mosque preachers have a major role in explaining the rulings of the Shari'ah to people, and the rulings of worship, clarifying them for people. This is more important than wandering into topics far removed from the people’s sphere, or from what they need, or where they have no means of solving them or participating in their solution. They must enlighten them about matters of their religion, their creed, their prayer, their fasting, their Hajj, and their zakah, in the rulings of their religion.
This is the first and most important thing that mosque preachers, may Allah guide them, should focus on. Likewise, it is incumbent upon the da'is (preachers) to Allah who lecture in mosque gatherings and elsewhere, or who hold seminars, or write in newspapers, or author books, treatises, and advice. They must focus on these matters and clarify them to people with insight, knowledge, and understanding, so that beneficial knowledge spreads, the ignorant learns, and the heedless remembers. This is the objective, and this is the obligation of everyone who has knowledge and everyone who has the ability. Yes.