When is it permissible to acquire a television?

The questioner : ... The television contains both good and evil. Is it permissible to acquire it, provided one is extremely careful to utilize it for topics of good...

The Shaykh : This caution that you refer to is, in my opinion and experience, a fantasy that cannot be realized. However, every question has an answer, so we say: if it can be realized—and as you mentioned earlier, visualizing this is difficult—then we say that the television is like the radio, and both are like the human tongue. This tongue, this small lump of flesh, if a Muslim uses it for good, it is good; if he uses it for evil, it is evil; and if he uses it for what is permissible, it is permissible. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, referring to this reality: So, these modern means, including for example recording, which was formerly called the "sound box" that was on the board, and so on, these things can be used for good and can be used for evil. They are tools created by Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and even if they were developed by disbelievers, Muslims can utilize them and invest in them in a Sharia-compliant manner. But where is the one who cares about this investment, even among individuals? I say now that the condition I set, which leads to the ruling that using the television is permissible, is a fantasy. Why? Because I do not imagine that this is possible except for a single, unmarried man, or an old, elderly shaykh like myself, who barely succeeds and does not become distracted by an image that may pass by quickly. He barely manages it. But a man who has a wife and children? It is absolutely impossible for him to control the television within the limits or the condition you set. Based on this condition, I said it is permissible, but because of the difficulty of realizing it, I said this is a fantasy to realize. Therefore, I do not advise a Muslim to bring a television into his home. I do not advise this at all, unless he is an old, elderly man who is religious and self-restrained, meaning one with strong willpower who triumphs over his soul that commands evil. Within these narrow limits, it can be said that it is permissible to bring a television into the home, otherwise it is not. And here we say, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This hadith applies exactly to the television, and indeed to the radio as well. I distinguish between the television and the radio in two aspects. What is heard on the radio can be changed to something else with a simple movement, but that is not the case with the television, because what is displayed on the television is attractive, and its power gathers all of a person's senses, which are directed toward the television: sight, hearing, and so on. Whereas in the radio, it is only hearing in the ear. A third and final point in this matter is that the programs broadcast on the radio to this day are far more numerous than the programs broadcast on the television. I mean, a person can switch from one station to another on the radio until he finds, for example, a station broadcasting the Qur'an, a religious lesson, or fatwas, as you hear, for example, from Saudi Arabia and the like. As for the television, to this day, the programs that we say are permissible to watch, and that we can bring our children to watch with us, are very, very rare.

The questioner : In a week, one day.