Do you advise us not to keep newspapers and magazines?

The questioner: Well, Shaykh, do you advise against buying them so that we do not increase their profit or become their helpers?

The Shaykh : By Allah, this is a point that requires precision. I cannot advise every individual and every student, because the specialists among the scholars of knowledge must necessarily look into everything that is published in this time so that they are well-versed in its conditions and affairs. I had read, thirty years ago or more, in some books of Islamic jurisprudence that it is not permissible for a man to take on the role of issuing fatwas if he does not know the conditions of his time. And knowing the conditions of the time requires this knowledgeable person to read everything that is happening. As for the general public, they should only read what benefits them and does not contain what harms them. Therefore, my answer in brief is: for the specialists, there is nothing wrong with looking into this newspaper and others that are worse than it or lower in quality. As for the general public, they should read the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the sayings of our righteous predecessors.

The questioner: May Allah gather us and you in Paradise, if Allah wills, and gather us together.

The Shaykh : Under the banner of Muhammad.

The questioner: Amen, amen, under the banner of the righteous.