The Shaykh’s remarks on the prohibition of television.

The existence of television today is among the most severe prohibitions, if only you knew. It is enough for you, and for others who know from their own homes, that television keeps the sleepy awake and wakes him up. Why? Because it contains something enticing. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created man in the best form and with the best disposition. He has the capacity to work during the day and the capacity to sleep at night. If he disrupts this divine cosmic order, his life will be thrown into disarray. If he stays up until midnight, it means he has lost his rest and his sleep for several hours. Where will he make up for these hours? At the expense of the Fajr prayer and the Duha prayer. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade sleeping before the 'Isha' prayer and staying up after it. He forbade sleeping before the 'Isha' prayer. Why? Because he would go to sleep and not wake up until midnight, and by midnight the time for 'Isha' would have passed. The time for 'Isha' does not extend, as many people imagine, until the time of Fajr. No, rather, as he (peace be upon him) said: .

The questioner: One o'clock?

The Shaykh: No, it may be one o'clock, it may be twelve o'clock, and it may be eleven thirty, depending on the length and shortness of the night. Yes, the point is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade sleeping before the 'Isha' prayer. This is a ruling whose meaning is reasonable, in the expression of the jurists. Because if someone were asked why, the answer would be: so that you do not miss the 'Isha' prayer. At the very least, you would miss the 'Isha' prayer with the congregation of the Muslims. And in that case, you would have missed an obligatory prayer. Then he (peace be upon him) said, in the completion of the hadith, that he also forbade staying up after the 'Isha' prayer. This too is a ruling whose meaning is reasonable. Why? Because staying up after the 'Isha' prayer helps the one who stays up to fail to wake up to perform the Fajr prayer. So let us suppose, look at how the result differs now. A man named Zayd prays 'Isha' in the mosque, goes home, eats two or three bites without overeating, and it is his habit to wake up for the Fajr prayer, because he is going to take his share of rest and sleep. One night, as usual, he put his head down and slept after the 'Isha' prayer, and his sleep carried him through until the sun rose. In that case, it is said to him at that moment: "Pray," based on his saying (peace be upon him): . Because this man took the lawful means by not staying up after the 'Isha' prayer and used everything in its proper place. But one night, his sleep carried him through until after the sun rose. This man is excused, and when he wakes up, he prays, and if he prays it, it is as if he prayed it in its time. This is Zayd. But another person—as is the case with most people today—does not sleep until, as your companion mentioned earlier, ten thirty or eleven, and he may even carry his sleep through to twelve o'clock. Naturally, he is unable to wake up for the Fajr prayer. If he wakes up after the sun has risen, the prayer is lost for him, and he is absolutely unable to pray it. And all of this is for the sake of preserving, first: the performance of every prayer in its time and in the mosque; and second: that we stay away from the causes that divert us from performing the prayer in its time. I think I have made the answer clear to you now?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner: By Allah, my master.The Shaykh : You mentioned the time of the 'Isha' prayer. Of course, when I have ten or fifteen boys in the house, and after the 'Isha' prayer I put myself to bed, well, I do not want to take my right from life from my wife, meaning, I put my head down and sleep. Well, the boys sleep at ten or eleven; ... , what am I supposed to do.

The Shaykh: May Allah forgive you, I did not say that the husband must not attend to his children and his wife. Yes, yes. First, are the five, ten, or fifteen children, from the softness of their nails, did their parents raise them? Not just the man, but the wife too. Did the parents of these children, whether few or many, fulfill the function of raising them with an Islamic upbringing? I tell you, sadly, no. And from here comes the problem. For example, a man who wants to preserve the performance of the prayer in its time and wants to pray after 'Isha' according to the Sharia system, when he prayed 'Isha' in the mosque, did he take his older children with him to the mosque? The answer is no. And that is why you find the mosques today empty except for the elderly or those close to that stage. As for the young men, boys of twelve, thirteen, or fourteen, fifteen, we are now in the modern era beginning to see something of these patterns. But unfortunately, we see these young men who we now see in the mosques, and we did not see them in the past, this trend in their attendance at the mosques is not due to them. The cause is the environment in which they live and the good company by which they are influenced and become active in attending the mosques. As for the fathers, most of those who pray do not care about their children. So you exaggerated, may Allah will it, you said ten and fifteen. How many children would have reached the age of accountability? If the door of the house were opened heading to the mosque, how many children would have to be walking with him?

The questioner: At least five.

The Shaykh: Here, we do not see such a thing today. So this gives us something very sad: that this father who has this blessing of children is negligent from the beginning of the first child. If he had started raising the first child and, for example, preserved the prayer for a nine-year-old or ten-year-old, and whenever we wanted to care about the prayer in the mosque, his second brother would follow him, and the third would also follow him, and so on, the father would be at ease. If he did not properly plant the first seed, this is not present today, unfortunately. Therefore, he magnifies the problem that you depicted earlier. I may have strayed a bit from the direct answer, but I am concerned to draw your attention completely. I tell you, do these children not eat dinner? They eat and finish. What are they supposed to do? Each one takes his bed and sleeps. Why? Because their father does it this way. And when their father wants to enjoy his lawful pleasure, he goes to enjoy his lawful pleasure in his private room, not among his children. So he retires to his bed, he and his wife, after they have put all the children to their beds and the house has settled and quieted down, and after that he enjoys his lawful pleasure.

The questioner : It needs time.

The Shaykh: Whatever the time, we do not say we prayed 'Isha' and slept. No, this time must be defined and regulated. We are talking about the means that divert us from the obedience of Allah, which is television. But come, you, my son, did you pray? No, I did not pray. Did you perform wudu? No, I did not perform wudu. These are matters that are necessary. But these, however much time they take, will not take half an hour or at most one hour.

The questioner: My master, they do not sleep for two or three hours in their rooms.

The Shaykh: My dear, they do not sleep. Why? Because originally they are not raised, not disciplined in Islam. Do not blame me, their father is not disciplined in the discipline of Islam, and he who lacks a thing cannot give it. All this generation that you see, the rising generation, and I want to draw your attention to something: is there a difference in quality? Now, perhaps you all witness it, it did not exist twenty years ago, is that right or not?

The questioner: Correct.

The Shaykh : Well, but the upbringing has not yet begun to bear fruit; the upbringing in the correct Islam has not yet begun to bear fruit. And among the matters of upbringing that we referred to earlier is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade sleeping before the 'Isha' prayer and talking after it. This is Islamic upbringing that you know, or perhaps you do not know it in thought or knowledge, so how do you know it in practice? You do not know it. Where are you going to learn it? There was no knowledge in the past, but now some of the correct knowledge has begun to spread among the people, knowledge that was previously unknown in theory and neglected in practice, and no one can deny this, unfortunately. His saying (peace be upon him): . Now, how many fathers, and how many mothers, are concerned with the matter of the child's prayer when he reaches the age of seven, and they continue with this command for a period of time until the child submits to this noble command? If he does not submit for three years and enters his tenth year of life, then at that point he is to be struck. Where is the father today, let alone a mother, who strikes her son because he has reached the age of ten and he does not pray? Where is this? Therefore, we must know and act upon what we know, otherwise the knowledge that we do not act upon will be an argument against us.