The means to the permissible are permissible, and the means to the obligatory are obligatory
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Communication means, O Shaykh! As you know, when we go back about twenty years from now, the radio began, and there were observations regarding its prohibition and so on. Then television began, which is broadcast from nearby areas, and there were observations regarding its prohibition as well, as you know. And now, satellite dishes have begun, which are broadcast from distant places.And this is the development of knowledge, and He said: [Al-Nahl: 8] I hope you will comment on this topic; because the lawful is clear and the forbidden is clear, and between them are ambiguous matters. May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh!
Our comment on this is that I inform you and whoever hears and will hear: that everything that is new must be investigated by people, and the general rule is that they will differ on it.
So smoking occurred a long time ago, and after its occurrence, people differed on it: is it forbidden or not? The opinions became confused regarding it, and the matter ended, after the development of medicine and the knowledge of what is beneficial and harmful in food and drink, with medicine concluding that a person must be certain of its prohibition.
Then, as you mentioned, the radio occurred, and people differed on it.
In fact, before it, the telegraph occurred, and people differed on it,And people from the creation broke it and said: These are devils.
And so the radio came and it was said: This is forbidden and this is not permissible, and these are devils.
And so the tape recorder came.
Until people differed on the loudspeaker in mosques, despite the fact that it broadcasts the sermon and broadcasts what is in it of good;But they said: This is not permissible.
The important thing is that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has made for us a scale by which we weigh everything,So he said: [Al-Nisa: 59] .
And Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Shura: 10] Is that not so? Good. Allah has made for us scales to which we return,For example: In acts of worship: the scale in acts of worship is that the original ruling in acts of worship is prohibition, and it is not permissible for a person to worship Allah with any action, verbal or physical, or with any belief, affirming or negating, except by permission from Allah and His Messenger. A person cannot perform an act of worship unless we know that it is prescribed. So the original ruling in acts of worship is prohibition, until evidence establishes that it is prescribed,Any person who worships with a worship we do not know, we say: O my brother! Be patient, this is forbidden,If he says: What is the evidence?We say: The evidence is on you. You are the one who proves that this is prescribed, otherwise it is rejected by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (Whoever does an action that is not in accordance with our command, it is rejected) We do not tell you: it is rejected from ourselves. We say it by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
Did you understand, O my brother? Take this as a rule.
Other than acts of worship, the original ruling in them is permissibility;Because Allah said: [Al-Baqarah: 29] Everything that Allah created on earth, whether entities or benefits, or anything else, is lawful,So if a person says to us: This is forbidden,We said: What is the evidence?And for this reason we say: The radio is lawful.
The tape recorder is lawful.
The loudspeaker is lawful.
What remains is reconsideration,This is the one we say to him: Lawful; for anything that is a means. If it is a means to the forbidden, or if what is broadcast through it is forbidden, then it becomes forbidden;Because we have a Shari'ah rule: And the means to the forbidden are forbidden, and the means to the obligatory are obligatory.
So, based on this, we say: There is no doubt that the radio, television, and what came after them of general television - general broadcasting - which is accessed via satellite dishes, there is no doubt that it broadcasts things that destroy belief, morals, and transactions; but this is not in a general sense, rather by tracking and news about these general things that are broadcast from distant countries via satellite dishes,The heard: That its harm is much greater than its benefit, and the rational person who knows the sources of the Shari'ah and the origins of the Shari'ah does not doubt that acquiring them is forbidden.
Now that we have known what is broadcast in them of base morals, which not even donkeys do, morals that destroy young men and young women,So I from this place and in every place say: It is forbidden, and it is not permissible to acquire them; because most of those who acquire them now do not acquire them except for evil and to look at what is in them of calamity and arousal of desire. And perhaps a person is weak in nature - the nature of desire - so he reaches the strengthening of it by what he watches of corrupt scenes to attain his desire, [Al-Furqan: 44] And Allah the Exalted said about those who disbelieved: They are [Muhammad: 12] .
I say: With great regret, these satellite dishes have spread terribly, like fire in dry grass, and many people have come to acquire them now without knowing their consequence, but based on what I have heard of their news and what is published in them, I say: It is forbidden.
And if we estimate that there is one benefit from a hundred harms,So Allah says in the Noble Qur'an: [Al-Baqarah: 219] The sin is singular and the benefits for people are many, and "benefits" is the form of the extreme of plurals,Meaning: The most it can be of the plural, [Al-Baqarah: 219] and it is one [Al-Baqarah: 219] and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has forbidden both; because the sin is greater even though the benefits are many.
The sin that occurs with this satellite dish, even if we estimate that there are great many benefits in it, even if we estimate that - for example - we watch the battles of the Muslims with the disbelievers, we watch the Hajj, we watch the Friday prayer, we listen to the Friday sermon, and we watch valuable and beneficial lectures.
And so on, these are many benefits; but one great harm that destroys the creation, it is the like of intoxicants and gambling, as long as this one harm and corruption destroys many morals, as in the ruling of prohibition.
Therefore, I advise every person who has any of this satellite dish to break it seeking the pleasure of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, so that he cuts off from himself returning to it again.
And we have in Sulayman ibn Dawud, one of the prophets (peace and blessings be upon them), an example when the horses distracted him from the remembrance of Allah, what did he do?He said: [Sad: 33] Some of them he castrated and some of them he cut the necks of; so that his soul would not call him to occupy himself with them again.
And Ka'b ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), when the paper came to him; a document from the King of Ghassan, he said - when it reached him that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had boycotted him for his lagging behind the Battle of Tabuk, a letter came to him from the King of Ghassan -He says: [Join us, we will make you like us. It has reached us that your companion has expelled you - stirring - it has reached us that your companion has expelled you -Meaning: He stirs him and then encourages him - join us, we will make you like us] Meaning: We will make you like us, a king. What did he do, may Allah be pleased with him? He took the paper and went to burn it in the oven; so that his soul would not suggest to him after he takes this document and goes to this man and says: You said: join us, we will make you like us, give me a share of your kingship.
So the result - O my brother - is that I say to you, and to whoever hears, and to whoever has heard,I say: That a person must fear fitnah as much as he can, and leave it.
And He creates that which you do not know.
وَيَخْلُقُ مَا لا تَعْلَمُونَOur comment on this is that I inform you and whoever hears and will hear: that everything that is new must be investigated by people, and the general rule is that they will differ on it.
So smoking occurred a long time ago, and after its occurrence, people differed on it: is it forbidden or not? The opinions became confused regarding it, and the matter ended, after the development of medicine and the knowledge of what is beneficial and harmful in food and drink, with medicine concluding that a person must be certain of its prohibition.
Then, as you mentioned, the radio occurred, and people differed on it.
In fact, before it, the telegraph occurred, and people differed on it,And people from the creation broke it and said: These are devils.
And so the radio came and it was said: This is forbidden and this is not permissible, and these are devils.
And so the tape recorder came.
Until people differed on the loudspeaker in mosques, despite the fact that it broadcasts the sermon and broadcasts what is in it of good;But they said: This is not permissible.
The important thing is that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has made for us a scale by which we weigh everything,So he said:
And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.
فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلاًAnd Allah the Exalted said:
And in anything over which you disagree - its ruling is [to be referred] to Allah.
وَمَا اخْتَلَفْتُمْ فِيهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ فَحُكْمُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِDid you understand, O my brother? Take this as a rule.
Other than acts of worship, the original ruling in them is permissibility;Because Allah said:
It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth
هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعاًThe tape recorder is lawful.
The loudspeaker is lawful.
What remains is reconsideration,This is the one we say to him: Lawful; for anything that is a means. If it is a means to the forbidden, or if what is broadcast through it is forbidden, then it becomes forbidden;Because we have a Shari'ah rule: And the means to the forbidden are forbidden, and the means to the obligatory are obligatory.
So, based on this, we say: There is no doubt that the radio, television, and what came after them of general television - general broadcasting - which is accessed via satellite dishes, there is no doubt that it broadcasts things that destroy belief, morals, and transactions; but this is not in a general sense, rather by tracking and news about these general things that are broadcast from distant countries via satellite dishes,The heard: That its harm is much greater than its benefit, and the rational person who knows the sources of the Shari'ah and the origins of the Shari'ah does not doubt that acquiring them is forbidden.
Now that we have known what is broadcast in them of base morals, which not even donkeys do, morals that destroy young men and young women,So I from this place and in every place say: It is forbidden, and it is not permissible to acquire them; because most of those who acquire them now do not acquire them except for evil and to look at what is in them of calamity and arousal of desire. And perhaps a person is weak in nature - the nature of desire - so he reaches the strengthening of it by what he watches of corrupt scenes to attain his desire,
They are not except like livestock. Rather, they are [even] more astray in [their] way.
إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلاًenjoy themselves and eat as grazing livestock eat, and the Fire will be a residence for them.
يَتَمَتَّعُونَ وَيَأْكُلُونَ كَمَا تَأْكُلُ الْأَنْعَامُ وَالنَّارُ مَثْوىً لَهُمْI say: With great regret, these satellite dishes have spread terribly, like fire in dry grass, and many people have come to acquire them now without knowing their consequence, but based on what I have heard of their news and what is published in them, I say: It is forbidden.
And if we estimate that there is one benefit from a hundred harms,So Allah says in the Noble Qur'an:
They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people
يَسْأَلونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ قُلْ فِيهِمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِand their sin
وَإِثْمُهُمَاgreater than their benefit
أَكْبَرُ مِنْ نَفْعِهِمَاThe sin that occurs with this satellite dish, even if we estimate that there are great many benefits in it, even if we estimate that - for example - we watch the battles of the Muslims with the disbelievers, we watch the Hajj, we watch the Friday prayer, we listen to the Friday sermon, and we watch valuable and beneficial lectures.
And so on, these are many benefits; but one great harm that destroys the creation, it is the like of intoxicants and gambling, as long as this one harm and corruption destroys many morals, as in the ruling of prohibition.
Therefore, I advise every person who has any of this satellite dish to break it seeking the pleasure of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, so that he cuts off from himself returning to it again.
And we have in Sulayman ibn Dawud, one of the prophets (peace and blessings be upon them), an example when the horses distracted him from the remembrance of Allah, what did he do?He said:
[He said], "Return them to me," and set about striking [their] legs and necks.
رُدُّوهَا عَلَيَّ فَطَفِقَ مَسْحاً بِالسُّوقِ وَالْأَعْنَاقِAnd Ka'b ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), when the paper came to him; a document from the King of Ghassan, he said - when it reached him that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had boycotted him for his lagging behind the Battle of Tabuk, a letter came to him from the King of Ghassan -He says: [Join us, we will make you like us. It has reached us that your companion has expelled you - stirring - it has reached us that your companion has expelled you -Meaning: He stirs him and then encourages him - join us, we will make you like us] Meaning: We will make you like us, a king. What did he do, may Allah be pleased with him? He took the paper and went to burn it in the oven; so that his soul would not suggest to him after he takes this document and goes to this man and says: You said: join us, we will make you like us, give me a share of your kingship.
So the result - O my brother - is that I say to you, and to whoever hears, and to whoever has heard,I say: That a person must fear fitnah as much as he can, and leave it.