The Ruling on Using Television to Spread the Call to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in Lands of Disbelief

The questioner : Shaykh, regarding this, is it permissible to use television to spread the call in lands of disbelief? Not in Islamic lands, but in lands of disbelief. We see that the misguided sects and groups have exploited this device and spread their beliefs. This has become, in a sense, a necessity to respond to them and clarify the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community on television. Because if we limit the call to the mosque, few are the ones who frequent the mosque. Then, as you know, in the home, especially in lands of disbelief, there is more than one device in a single house. These people—and especially the Shi'ah—spread their beliefs. In our region, for example, they have [programs] every day, one day after another. Meanwhile, the government—the American government—allows anyone who wants to use the device for free, without money. So, is it permissible for a committed person to film himself, or find someone to film him, and speak to spread the sound creed, or not?

The Shaykh : No. But why did you make a leap like a gazelle in a place where one should not leap? You jumped from television to the mosque. Is there not another intermediate means by which you can do without television? Namely, the radio?

The questioner : There is, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Just as television enters every home, so does the voice of the radio—or "the rad," as some call it—enter every home. So where is the claimed necessity in your question for the lecturer, preacher, teacher, jurist, or hadith scholar to appear with his person only? I do not deny that the appearance of a person with his voice and his self has an impact on people, but this is not from the category of necessities; rather, it is from the category of desirable extras. If we agree on the prohibition of using television as a principle, first because of the images in it, and because it is a device that is predominantly used in ways that do not please Allah (Mighty and Majestic), if we agree on this, then there is nothing to justify us taking this means as a means of call, teaching, and guidance. The alternative for us exists without any exposure to violating the Shari'ah, namely "the rad." This is my answer to this question.

The questioner : The use of the radio among people there is very little. Look, people do not use the radio, whereas they pay great attention to television. I am speaking to you about a reality I know. Rarely do they use the radio. Those who use the radio use it for singing and other things. The broadcasting stations there are many, not like the Kingdom with the Noble Qur'an Radio. You turn on the radio to the Noble Qur'an only. No, the stations there are very many, and limiting them is difficult due to their number. For example, we have channel, and channel—also many but limited, they remain limited. They allocate, for example, one channel for religions; the Jew has specific hours, the Christian has hours, and the Muslim has hours. But those who represent Islam are the Shi'ah. Sometimes we find the Bala'is, and we find the Qadiyans. But we found that some of the people of the Sunnah spoke on television, but he was Ash'ari. When he spoke about creed, he spoke about what he believes.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes. Well, I answered you based on a jurisprudential principle, which is that "necessities permit the prohibited." And I said here there is no necessity, because "the rad" takes the place of television. But I have understood something new from you now, and perhaps I am not mistaken in what I understood. Based on the broadcasting stations existing in Arab countries, we know that not everything broadcast on "the rad" is broadcast on television. If the situation in those countries you are referring to is the opposite; that is, everything published on "the rad" is published on television, and not vice versa; then we might answer with an answer different from the previous one. And before that, I must be reassured: is the matter as you described, or as I understood from you?

The questioner : Not everything published on the radio is published on television, no.

The Shaykh : That is it.

The questioner : This one has its programs, and that one has its programs.

The Shaykh : So in that case; is not what is published on the radio something that the people, all the people or all the nations, need to listen to and turn on the radio? Because they know, as you said, that not everything broadcast on television is broadcast on the radio? So why do we not say that we use the radio instead of television? Unlike if the matter were as you mentioned earlier; that everything published on television is published on the radio, and everything published on the radio is published on television. In that case, the ruling would be completely different.

The questioner : What we have observed, our Shaykh, there regarding religious matters is that people pay attention to television. For this reason, the churches, especially on Sundays, focus on putting their most famous priests, and even their most eloquent ones, for very long hours. Meanwhile, this priest could sit on the radio and speak, but he does not want to, because he knows that the visual is not like the auditory, and this is more eloquent. So they use this wicked device. Yes, and the scene and the reality we live in is also that people's interest in the radio is only for singing. Even the sons of Muslims who have abandoned or left prayer, and done what they did, are interested in the radio only from the aspect of singing. But if he sat behind, for example, let me give you an example. I recorded a video tape on television about how to pray, as I mentioned in the book "The Description of Prayer from its Takbir to its Taslim." People came and said, "We know you, and we saw you on television, and you did things we did not know before." Whereas if I taught them prayer on the radio, I know that they...

The Shaykh : No, but this is a different matter. I am asking: is what you did there permissible to do here?

The questioner : The means remains the same: television.

The Shaykh : The matter does not differ, because prayer is a practical worship. No matter how much you speak about it theoretically, like Hajj, for example, the rituals of Hajj, no matter how much you speak... What does the audience benefit from seeing that the lecturer is so-and-so, and the voice is the voice they hear from the radio? Television is only that they see the person. I told you earlier, there is no doubt that the appearance of a person with his body and voice together is stronger in its impact on viewers and listeners together than if they were limited to hearing the voice without seeing the person. I know this, but is this among the justifications for committing what is originally forbidden?
The answer is no. So it is sufficient for us to use the radio. I am with you finally, if we suppose that the radio turned into television, do you see how? Such that the television performs two functions; the first function is the function of the radio, and that country no longer has a radio, because the television made them do without it. And the second function is showing the listeners the person of the lecturer or the speaker. In that case, I say, spread the call by the way of television. But as long as the first means exists and it is possible to spread the call in a wider circle, and not in the narrow circle which is the mosque; then in that case, we do not say we allow our enthusiastic brothers in spreading Islam to use the means of the disbelievers by which they spread the call of disbelief.

The questioner : In some conferences that take place among the Salafis, also, they have prepared their equipment for filming... But I say, hypothetically, if I were invited to give a lecture in those conferences; do I lecture while these devices are present, or not?

The Shaykh : You lecture on condition, on condition that they do not broadcast the images.

The questioner : And if they refuse, do you refuse?

The Shaykh : Yes, and this is what happened to me in my previous trip, where I was invited. What do they call this? In Jeddah. Hello, you distribute... to the peoples?

The questioner : The Association...

The Shaykh : The Association... Yes.

The questioner : The Relief Authority.

The Shaykh : The Relief Authority, yes, and the devices were present. So they wanted me to speak. I said, yes, but on the condition of no filming of this. Because before, I attended some recordings, including a video in which they broadcast the people of the preachers from the Strip. Shaykh, I forgot his name.

The questioner : Perhaps it was Hasan Abu Shuqra?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Hasan Abu Shuqra...

The Shaykh : I will describe it to you, because when I heard him speak, I said to myself, "I will be like him," meaning an old man like me, and I did not like this image, even though there was no necessity for broadcasting it. So I took a new lesson from this image, although I had certainly taken lessons before. When they wanted me to answer them, and I did not know which of our brothers was with me, were you with me? Good, I am trying to recall, I did not catch the name of thisThe Shaykh : person they showed on the large screen? And I saw the redness of his tongue as he was speaking, as if he had a stutter or something like that.

Another questioner : He was on the screen.

The Shaykh : He was on the large screen, did you not remember his name?

Another questioner: No, no.

The Shaykh : The important thing is that I imposed a condition on them, so they accepted the condition, and the matter was settled.