The Ruling on Watching Football Matches
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: What is the ruling on watching football matches where the players wear shorts on their thighs?
Answer:
What is the benefit of watching football? It is a waste of time. What do you gain from watching the game? Even if the players are covering their private parts, if they are not covering them, there are two prohibitions involved. The first prohibition is looking at the exposed private parts, and the second is wasting time without any benefit. Therefore, a Muslim should not waste his time on these trifles and things that have no benefit. One’s heart may become attached to these things. At first, one might watch out of curiosity, but then one becomes tempted by it, because I see that some people become obsessed with this game. It may take hold of his heart and he becomes attached to it, so he neglects it and leaves the prayer with the congregation, or he delays the prayer from its time, because some matches last a long time and may take up the entire time of the prayer. He may miss the congregation. Therefore, staying away from this and turning one’s gaze away from it is better for the Muslim. The Muslim’s time is precious and should be used in what benefits him in his religion and in his worldly affairs. As for this football, playing it and watching it are both without benefit. If it results in delaying the prayer from its time, it becomes forbidden. Or if it involves exposing private parts, or if it involves drums and singing, it is forbidden because of the wrongs contained in it, the noise in it. Yes. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Honorable Shaykh, he says: What is the ruling on watching football matches where the players wear shorts on their thighs?
Answer:
What is the benefit of watching football? It is a waste of time. What do you gain from watching the game? Even if the players are covering their private parts, if they are not covering them, there are two prohibitions involved. The first prohibition is looking at the exposed private parts, and the second is wasting time without any benefit. Therefore, a Muslim should not waste his time on these trifles and things that have no benefit. One’s heart may become attached to these things. At first, one might watch out of curiosity, but then one becomes tempted by it, because I see that some people become obsessed with this game. It may take hold of his heart and he becomes attached to it, so he neglects it and leaves the prayer with the congregation, or he delays the prayer from its time, because some matches last a long time and may take up the entire time of the prayer. He may miss the congregation. Therefore, staying away from this and turning one’s gaze away from it is better for the Muslim. The Muslim’s time is precious and should be used in what benefits him in his religion and in his worldly affairs. As for this football, playing it and watching it are both without benefit. If it results in delaying the prayer from its time, it becomes forbidden. Or if it involves exposing private parts, or if it involves drums and singing, it is forbidden because of the wrongs contained in it, the noise in it. Yes. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 04 — archive.org (1:13:59)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.