Ruling on Watching Purposeful Animated Films
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Your Eminence! Regarding some educational media, certain media organizations produce purposeful animated video films featuring Islamic attire that narrate some of the stories of the conquerors and famous figures of Islam. Their impact has become clear from the public’s enthusiasm for them and the children’s attachment to them. Does Your Eminence see these means as a partial substitute for the flood of content broadcast by the media and the resulting corruption of religion and virtue?
There is no doubt that these films, which have emerged, contain benefit and public benefit from one aspect, and they prevent harm from what is spread in the media by those who spread it, whose aim is (to destroy morals) and creed,Perhaps you understand the meaning of my saying: to destroy morals; because many of those who watch what is broadcast—especially on satellite dishes—have had their morals corrupted and their character degraded,Meaning: There are people who graduated from Islamic colleges, who were committed, but they were afflicted by watching these films, and their morals were completely stripped away—seeking refuge in Allah—and they reached a point where I do not like to speak of what I hear, and this is clear. But how does it destroy creed—faith in Allah, Mighty and Majestic? Because when a person leans toward desires and becomes attached to forbidden desires, that precedes his creed, and his concern, whether awake or asleep, is these desires, so the creed is stripped away and gone—seeking refuge in Allah. The heart is a vessel; if you fill a vessel with water, can you add milk to it? No, if you pour milk on it, it will scatter. So it is a vessel: if you fill it with good, it rejects evil, and if you fill it with evil, it rejects good. So these films about which our brother asked are undoubtedly beneficial, but the point is that these films were made by someone who has no knowledge of what lies beyond the appearance,For example: We hear that Muhammad al-Fatih is shown in them. If a child starts watching this film, do not think that he imagines that any of the heroes of Islam is greater than Muhammad al-Fatih, and he believes that Muhammad al-Fatih is the only hero of Islam, and this is a problem. And if Khalid ibn al-Walid and his like among the heroes of the Companions are shown, that is also a problem; because we do not see the permissibility of depicting the Companions at all, so it is a problem.
But if these films showed battles between the Muslims and their enemies without specifying a particular person, so that hearts do not become attached to him, that would be better. Even if it were not in this form, but showed what is seen in the universe of planets, stars, sun, and moon, and what is seen on earth of rivers and others, that would also be good. And if it showed—also—what was seen last week of the large meteors that spread, and some of you saw them, and the news was widespread from the third hour to the sixth hour until the light of the sun drove them away, and people were watching them from the east, west, north, south, and overhead, but more from the east, by the thousands according to the one who reported it to us and his group, not by the hundreds or tens, falling down.
But he says: They do not collide with each other despite their number,Until he says: Their light woke us up, and we thought that this was a continuous split.
So a scene like this, if it were shown, would be among the greatest things in frightening and softening the heart.
So we hope that the makers of films will use such things. As for specifying a conqueror in the later eras after the Companions, so that the child or boy thinks that there is no greater heroism than this man, we do not see that; because this makes people forget Khalid ibn al-Walid, Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, and others among the heroes.
There is no doubt that these films, which have emerged, contain benefit and public benefit from one aspect, and they prevent harm from what is spread in the media by those who spread it, whose aim is (to destroy morals) and creed,Perhaps you understand the meaning of my saying: to destroy morals; because many of those who watch what is broadcast—especially on satellite dishes—have had their morals corrupted and their character degraded,Meaning: There are people who graduated from Islamic colleges, who were committed, but they were afflicted by watching these films, and their morals were completely stripped away—seeking refuge in Allah—and they reached a point where I do not like to speak of what I hear, and this is clear. But how does it destroy creed—faith in Allah, Mighty and Majestic? Because when a person leans toward desires and becomes attached to forbidden desires, that precedes his creed, and his concern, whether awake or asleep, is these desires, so the creed is stripped away and gone—seeking refuge in Allah. The heart is a vessel; if you fill a vessel with water, can you add milk to it? No, if you pour milk on it, it will scatter. So it is a vessel: if you fill it with good, it rejects evil, and if you fill it with evil, it rejects good. So these films about which our brother asked are undoubtedly beneficial, but the point is that these films were made by someone who has no knowledge of what lies beyond the appearance,For example: We hear that Muhammad al-Fatih is shown in them. If a child starts watching this film, do not think that he imagines that any of the heroes of Islam is greater than Muhammad al-Fatih, and he believes that Muhammad al-Fatih is the only hero of Islam, and this is a problem. And if Khalid ibn al-Walid and his like among the heroes of the Companions are shown, that is also a problem; because we do not see the permissibility of depicting the Companions at all, so it is a problem.
But if these films showed battles between the Muslims and their enemies without specifying a particular person, so that hearts do not become attached to him, that would be better. Even if it were not in this form, but showed what is seen in the universe of planets, stars, sun, and moon, and what is seen on earth of rivers and others, that would also be good. And if it showed—also—what was seen last week of the large meteors that spread, and some of you saw them, and the news was widespread from the third hour to the sixth hour until the light of the sun drove them away, and people were watching them from the east, west, north, south, and overhead, but more from the east, by the thousands according to the one who reported it to us and his group, not by the hundreds or tens, falling down.
But he says: They do not collide with each other despite their number,Until he says: Their light woke us up, and we thought that this was a continuous split.
So a scene like this, if it were shown, would be among the greatest things in frightening and softening the heart.
So we hope that the makers of films will use such things. As for specifying a conqueror in the later eras after the Companions, so that the child or boy thinks that there is no greater heroism than this man, we do not see that; because this makes people forget Khalid ibn al-Walid, Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, and others among the heroes.