The Ruling on Video Recording
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The questioner: Is it permissible to take video recordings?
The Shaykh: Video recording depends on the recorder and what he intends to record. What some people do now on wedding days, recording the gathering, is a great error and a sin; because this recording will be watched by everyone. There may be women in it displaying their adornment, there may be women in it with their faces uncovered, and the women may be talking to one another and laughing at one another, so fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) results from it. This is forbidden, and there is no doubt in it. It may also be recording to transmit educational materials, such as practicing the manufacture of something, or preparing something; the important thing is that it is useful educational material. It may also be a lecture by a person speaking to people, guiding them and admonishing them; in that case, there is nothing wrong with it. So the important thing is that it depends on the thing being recorded.
The Shaykh: Video recording depends on the recorder and what he intends to record. What some people do now on wedding days, recording the gathering, is a great error and a sin; because this recording will be watched by everyone. There may be women in it displaying their adornment, there may be women in it with their faces uncovered, and the women may be talking to one another and laughing at one another, so fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) results from it. This is forbidden, and there is no doubt in it. It may also be recording to transmit educational materials, such as practicing the manufacture of something, or preparing something; the important thing is that it is useful educational material. It may also be a lecture by a person speaking to people, guiding them and admonishing them; in that case, there is nothing wrong with it. So the important thing is that it depends on the thing being recorded.