The Ruling on the Television Set and What Is Broadcast on It

Question:
What is Your Eminence’s view regarding the television set? It is not hidden from you that it contains great evil and corruption, of which Allah is fully aware. It begins with the Qur'an and ends with the Qur'an, but in between it broadcasts forbidden singing, music, and serials that involve the free mixing of men and women under the guise of love and passion. Women appear with their adornments exposed. It also broadcasts criminal serials that teach theft, murder, and undutifulness to parents, among other things. What is Your Eminence’s opinion on this, and on the evil that results from it, which affects everyone, both the righteous and the wicked?

Answer:
Jihad is known, and what is in it is known. Efforts continue to be made with the authorities to purify and rid [the media] of these evils. Falsehoods still exist, then they are addressed, then they disappear, and then others come. So the jihad is currently ongoing against those in charge of it. We ask Allah to help against them, to guide them, to appoint the good over them, and to keep the wicked away from them.
And to guide the people so that they cooperate with the scholars in these matters, and to urge the rulers to do what is in the interest of the people and the land. There is no doubt that radio, television, and the press—all these media contain evil, and all of them require jihad. However, the evil is not in the television, then the radio, then the press; rather, all of them require care and purification so that they are safe from what harms society, and so that they are upright in what benefits society. So we ask Allah to help in purifying them and ridding them of what harms society, to reform those in charge of them, and to help against them. And to grant success to the students of knowledge in uniting and cooperating in what is in the interest of everyone.