Continuation of the discussion on the ruling regarding the use of television to convey the call to Islam to people in lands of disbelief.

The questioner : The use of the radio among people there is very limited; people do not use the radio, whereas they pay great attention to television. I am speaking to you about a reality as far as I know. It is rare that they use the radio; those who use the radio use it for singing and other things. The radio stations there are numerous, unlike in the Kingdom where there is the Noble Qur'an Radio station, and one turns the radio on to listen to the Noble Qur'an only. The stations there are very numerous, and it may be difficult to count them due to their abundance. For example, we have 83 channels on television here. 83 is also a lot, but they remain limited. They dedicate one channel to religions: the Jews have specific hours, the Christians have specific hours, and the Muslims have specific hours. But those who represent Islam are the Shi'ah. Sometimes we find the Bala'is and sometimes the Qadiyans. However, we have found that some of the people of the Sunnah have spoken on television, but they are Ash'aris. When they speak about creed, they speak about what they believe.

The Shaykh : Well, I answered you based on a jurisprudential principle, which is that "necessities permit the prohibited." I said here that there is no necessity because the radio serves the purpose of the television. But I have understood something new from you now, and perhaps I am not mistaken in what I understood, based on the radio stations existing in Arab countries. We know that not everything broadcast on the radio is broadcast on television. If the situation in the countries you are referring to is the opposite, meaning that everything published on the radio is published on television and vice versa, then we might answer with a response different from the previous one. And before that, I must be reassured: is the matter as you described, or as I understood from you?

The questioner : Not everything published on the radio is published on the television. No.

The Shaykh : That is it.

The questioner : This one has its programs, and that one has its programs.

The Shaykh : In that case, is it not the case that what is published on the radio is needed by all the people, or all the nations, who need to be advised and turn on the radio, because as you said, they know that not everything broadcast on television is broadcast on the radio? So why do we not say that we use the radio instead of the television? This is different from the case you mentioned earlier, where everything published on the television is published on the radio and everything published on the radio is published on the television. In that case, the ruling would be completely different.

The questioner : What we have observed, our Shaykh, is that regarding religious matters, people there pay attention to the television. For this reason, the churches, especially on Sundays, focus on broadcasting their most famous priests, and even their most eloquent ones, for very long hours. Meanwhile, this priest could sit on the radio and speak, but he does not want to, because he knows that the visual is not like the auditory. This is more effective, so they use this wicked device. Yes, and the reality we live in is also that people's interest in the radio is only for singing. Even the sons of Muslims who have abandoned or left off prayer and done what they have done, they are interested in the radio only from the aspect of singing. But if they sat behind, for example, let me give you an example: I recorded a video tape on television showing how to pray, as you mentioned in the book *The Description of the Prophet's Prayer* (peace and blessings be upon him), from its opening takbir to its closing taslim. People came and said, "We know you and we saw you on television, and you did things we did not know before." If you taught them prayer on the radio, I know that they...

The Shaykh : No, but this is a different matter. I am asking: is what you did there permissible to do here?

The questioner : The means remains the same: television.

The Shaykh : The matter does not differ; because prayer is a practical act of worship. No matter how much you speak about it theoretically, like Hajj, for example, the rituals of Hajj, no matter how much you speak about it... What does the audience gain from seeing the lecturer so-and-so, when the voice is the same voice they hear from the radio? The only thing television adds is that they see the person. I told you earlier that there is no doubt that the person appearing with both his body and his voice is more powerful in its effect on viewers and listeners alike than if they were limited to hearing the voice without seeing the person. I know this, but is this a justification for committing what is originally forbidden? The answer is no. It is sufficient for us to use the radio. I agree with you finally: suppose the radio turned into the television, do you see how? Such that the television performs two functions: the first function is the function of the radio, and that country no longer has a radio because the television has made it unnecessary for them; and the second function is showing the listeners the person of the lecturer or the speaker. In that case, I would say to spread the call via the television. But as long as the first means exists and it is possible to spread the call in a wider circle, not in the narrow circle which is the mosque, then we do not say that we allow our enthusiastic brothers in spreading Islam to use the means of the disbelievers by which they spread the call of disbelief.

The questioner : In some conferences that take place among us Salafis, they may have prepared their equipment for filming. But I say, hypothetically, if I were invited to give a lecture at those conferences, would I lecture while these devices are present, or not?

The Shaykh : You lecture, but with a condition: the condition is that they do not broadcast the images.

The questioner : And if they refuse, do you refuse?

The Shaykh : Yes, and this is what happened to me in my previous trip. I was invited in Jeddah to the Relief Commission, and the devices were present. They wanted me to speak, so I said yes, but with the condition of no filming. This is because previously I attended some recordings, including a video in which they broadcast the preachers from the other side. Shaykh, I forgot his name.

The questioner : Perhaps it was Hasan Abu Shuqra?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Hasan Abu Shuqra.

The Shaykh : I will describe him to you; because when I heard him speak, I said, "I will be like him," meaning an old man like me, and I did not like this image, even though there was no necessity for broadcasting it. So I took a new lesson from this image, although I had taken lessons before, of course. When they wanted me to answer them, and I do not know who of our brothers was with me, were you with me? Okay, I am trying to recall if I attended the name of this...The Shaykh : ...who they broadcast on the large screen. I was seeing the redness of his tongue as he spoke, as if he had a stutter or something similar, and he was on the large screen. Did you remember his name?

Another questioner: No.

The Shaykh : The important thing is that I imposed the condition on them, and they accepted the condition, and the matter ended.