What is your opinion on watching Islamic films, such as "The Message," for example, which inspires enthusiasm, even if the answer is prohibition?

The questioner : What is your esteemed opinion on watching Islamic films, especially those that inspire religious enthusiasm in some Muslims, and specifically "The Message," which contains objectives regarding the initial spread of Islam and the call to it? If your answer is that it is not permissible, I ask you to clarify the reason and the reactions?

The Shaykh : The questioner hit the mark when he said: If your answer is, what did he say?

The questioner : If your answer is that it is not permissible.

The Shaykh: Yes.
We say: It is not permissible. Dramatic productions are not prescribed in Islam for many reasons, among which are:
First: This is the way of the disbelievers, and the way of the disbelievers is fitting for them, not for Muslims. This is because the disbelievers feel that they need incentives and motivators to drive them to good. They do not find in their religion what we have, praise be to Allah, of good, as you heard earlier his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . A single verse, let alone a chapter, suffices for many, many, and very many dramatic productions if it were disseminated to Muslims and explained to them. So Muslims do not need such modern means, especially since they originated from the lands of disbelief, about whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: . How can we take the methodologies, cultures, and ways of a community that does not prohibit or permit, and then come and apply them to ourselves?
I was once impressed by a lecturer who said: The example of Muslims imitating the Westerners is like a person who is fat taking a garment tailored for another person who is thin, and wanting to wear this garment... The result will be that he cannot live in it, and the outcome will be that this garment tears; because it was not tailored for his body, and the reverse is the reverse. So those means are suitable for them and not suitable for us; because we have better than that, as came in the hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: . If Moses (who is the one who spoke to Allah) were alive, he would not have been able to do anything but follow the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So what about us today, being followers, rather being tailors, of everything that comes to us from the adornment of those people who do not prohibit what Allah and His Messenger prohibited? This is the reason I do not see the permissibility of these dramatic productions.
The second matter: It is necessary that in these dramatic productions there occur matters that are false and have no truth in Islamic history or in the early biography. And when that is the case, this is another reason that prevents us from imitating the Europeans in what they are doing with dramatic productions; because they live by a known principle, and unfortunately some Muslims also follow it. Their principle is: "The end justifies the means." The means is, for example, to earn money, while the path is not important, whether it is lawful or forbidden. This is contrary to Islam, which clarified for us the path of the lawful and the forbidden, and said: . So those people in their dramatic productions include what has no truth at all, and we followed in their footsteps, in accordance with his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): to the end of the hadith.
Thirdly - and finally: Another violation may enter into the dramatic productions; and that is men imitating women, or women imitating men, or the free mixing of men and women. And as it is said: The sweetest of them is bitter. How can we permit such dramatic productions? For example, a clear, good, and fully evident image: the man, glory be to Allah, is bearded as Allah created him, but following the customs of the disbelievers, he shaves his beard. So when he is placed in a role to act, he acts in it - for example - a man from the Companions, and he puts on a fake beard in the style of the English lords. So he deceives people. First, he is created with a beard, so he disobeys Allah and shaves it. Then when the time for acting comes, he pretends before people that he preserves his beard. Is this not lying? And from that, there may be a young man without a beard, and a fake beard is put on him, and so on. And therefore, if these dramatic productions are studied, we come out with the result that they are not prescribed in the religion of Islam, especially if they are related to the message of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). There will be lying in that. This one represents 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, and this one represents the sister of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, and so on. All of this is falsehood upon falsehood, and what is built upon a defective foundation is defective.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : All right, as you wish.