Some schools occupy the youth with football and theater during the vacation; what is the ruling, and what is the difference between means and objectives in calling people to Allah?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Your Eminence, some schools open summer centers during the summer vacation to keep the lost youth off the streets by engaging them in good matters such as lectures, seminars, competitions, and other beneficial activities. Perhaps they occupy the youth in these camps with football and theater. Then some of the youth objected, saying that this is not appropriate and is not permissible, and that this is not the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), since it is obligatory that these lessons be held in the mosques. They say that the means of da'wah are restricted to what is established in the texts. Many of the youth are confused by this, and we need from you a clear and sufficient guidance on this matter to distinguish between means and objectives so that the issue becomes clear. May Allah reward you and reward you with good.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
There is no doubt that the government, may Allah guide it, is to be thanked for establishing these summer centers, because they prevent great evil and a major fitnah (trial) through these centers. What do you think if these large crowds of youth were to roam the markets lengthwise and breadthwise, or go out to the parks, the wilderness, the valleys, or the mountains? What do you think of the evil that would result from them? I believe that every rational person who knows the reality would assume that a catastrophe would befall the youth in terms of deviation, corruption of morals, bad ideas, and so on. But these centers, praise be to Allah, have come to protect many of the youth. We do not say they protect most of the youth, nor all of the youth, as is the reality. Much good occurs in them, such as inviting scholars to deliver lectures that provide much knowledge, beneficial admonition, and familiarity between the youth and the shaykhs. These are undoubtedly great benefits. As for what occurs in them of entertaining the soul with football, plays, and the like, this is wisdom, because if souls were given seriousness in every state and at every time, they would become bored, weary, and disgusted. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said, "O Messenger of Allah, when we are with you and you remind us of Paradise and the Fire, it is as if we see it with our own eyes. But when we go to our families and mix with our families and children, we forget." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The meaning is that a person is like this at one time and like that at another time. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, and he (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I will stand in prayer at night as long as I live, and I will fast during the day as long as I live." Did you say this? He said, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." He said: meaning your guest And he heard a group of people saying, when they were asked about the work of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in private—the work he does in his home—they reported it, so it seemed they were mocking this work. They said, "The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), may Allah forgive him for what has passed of his sin and what remains, and we are not like that." One of them said, "I do not sleep at night," meaning he stands in prayer at night and does not sleep. The second said, "I fast and do not break my fast." The third said, "I do not eat meat." The fourth said, "I do not marry women." When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard about that, he said: So giving the soul its share of permissible pleasure is undoubtedly the height of wisdom. Furthermore, the game of football, along with its amusement and removal of mental fatigue, has a benefit for the body because it is activity and strengthening. However, it is necessary for the players to avoid what some of the foolish do, which is wearing short trousers. This is not permissible. It is not permissible for the Islamic youth to wear short trousers, because if we say that the thigh is 'awrah (nakedness), the matter is clear: 'awrah is not permissible to expose or look at. And if we do not say it is 'awrah, then exposing the thighs of the youth is a fitnah (temptation) where some are tempted by others, and this is a harm that must be averted. Second, that it does not lead to idle talk such as cursing, insulting, or the like, for it is not permissible to do what leads to obscene speech that goes beyond decency. Third, that no action occurs that contradicts decency, as some players do when one of them, meaning he overcomes the others, they run to him, embrace him, hug him, and ride on his shoulders, and the like of actions that contradict decency. Because these actions, had they not come to us from countries that have no decency and no religion, we would be the first to denounce them. Even the small boys who are below the age of puberty, who are ten years old and so on, if they did this, it would be necessary to guide them away from it and to leave this action. As for the one who says that the place of admonitions is the mosques, he is correct; the place of admonitions is the mosques. But did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) not admonish the people except in the mosque? He admonished them in the mosque, he admonished them in the market, he admonished them on a journey. He set aside a day for the women to admonish them, so he came to them in the house of one of them. So the place of admonition, it is true that it is the mosques; this is the original rule. But whenever the need arises for admonition, one admonishes. If we told these youth to bring the centers to the mosques, to cook the lunch in the mosque, and to make the coffee in the mosque, but this is also an abomination, more abominable than their sitting in a specific place. And I say to this brother who objected with this objection: a person must have understanding and awareness, and he must place matters in their proper stations, and not be superficial, seeing things from above the roofs, but be an aware person who probes matters and their depths, and looks at what benefits and what harms result from actions. The broad, wide, comprehensive rule of the Islamic Shari'ah is that it is only for bringing benefits and repelling harms. So it brought benefits and repelled harms. And no one doubts that if we told the summer centers to come to the mosques, the people would not bear this, not even the common people would bear this thing. So we say these places are the schools, which are the place of knowledge from long times ago. The Muslims do not deny them; they study in the schools, they built the ribat (lodges) and the schools, and they printed books. All this was not known in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The most that can be said is that it is possible to argue for the ribat with the people of the Suffah. But did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prevent that? He never prevented this. So schools now are a place of knowledge where the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) are studied, and the sayings of the scholars, and the supporting means of knowledge such as this and that. So we say to the brother who objected with this objection: think about the matter and know that the religion is broader than your thought and broader than your intellect, and that it brings benefits wherever they are, as long as they do not include harms that are equal or predominant, in which case they are prevented. As for his saying that the means of da'wah are restricted to what is established in the texts, the word "means" indicates that they are not restricted to what is established in the texts. As long as it is a means, we follow it, unless it is forbidden. We follow it, and if its type did not come in the Shari'ah, we follow it as long as it is not forbidden, because the means have the rulings of the objectives. Are we not now conveying to people by means of the loudspeaker? Is this means present in the time of the Messenger? It is not present. Are we not reading books