How do we advise the owner of a satellite dish who says he brought it for the news and that European news is more truthful?
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The questioner : May the Shaykh be respected, my question is about how to advise the owner of a satellite dish?
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : It is about how to advise the owner of a satellite dish. For example, if I go to advise the owner of a satellite dish, he argues with me using various arguments, including his claim that he wants to follow the news instead of listening to it on the radio. He also claims that some news is not accurate, and that European news is more accurate than the news from neighboring countries. He says he does not watch the forbidden things, because they only come on late at night, and he does not watch them. He prevents his children from watching them as much as he is able. If I mention to him the legal ruling that the satellite dish is forbidden, he is aware of that. So how do I call him to the truth? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : If he knows that this is forbidden and he persists in it, then persisting in a minor sin makes it a major sin, as the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) said. We say: It is sufficient as a proof against you that you know it is forbidden. If you know that it is forbidden, what makes you acquire it?
As for the matter of the news, what is the news?
If the news is international, we assert with certainty that nothing is broadcast in the news except what serves the interests of the disbelieving states, whether through the satellite dish, other radio stations, the press, or otherwise. For this reason, they always talk about real things, and when we ask, we find that it is a lie and has no validity. They sometimes talk about the issue of Chechnya, the issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since we follow the news from the brothers who contact us, we find that what is said in the radio stations is all cover-up and obfuscation and is not correct. So who told you that what is on the satellite dish is correct and what is transmitted in other news is not correct?
Then suppose you stayed until twelve o'clock in front of this satellite dish, and it was all news from Morocco to here, what did you benefit from?
The questioner : Nothing.
The Shaykh : Nothing. Are you going to the President of Russia, or the President of America, or the British, or the French, and say to him, O so-and-so, stop at your limit?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes?
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : It is about how to advise the owner of a satellite dish. For example, if I go to advise the owner of a satellite dish, he argues with me using various arguments, including his claim that he wants to follow the news instead of listening to it on the radio. He also claims that some news is not accurate, and that European news is more accurate than the news from neighboring countries. He says he does not watch the forbidden things, because they only come on late at night, and he does not watch them. He prevents his children from watching them as much as he is able. If I mention to him the legal ruling that the satellite dish is forbidden, he is aware of that. So how do I call him to the truth? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : If he knows that this is forbidden and he persists in it, then persisting in a minor sin makes it a major sin, as the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) said. We say: It is sufficient as a proof against you that you know it is forbidden. If you know that it is forbidden, what makes you acquire it?
As for the matter of the news, what is the news?
If the news is international, we assert with certainty that nothing is broadcast in the news except what serves the interests of the disbelieving states, whether through the satellite dish, other radio stations, the press, or otherwise. For this reason, they always talk about real things, and when we ask, we find that it is a lie and has no validity. They sometimes talk about the issue of Chechnya, the issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since we follow the news from the brothers who contact us, we find that what is said in the radio stations is all cover-up and obfuscation and is not correct. So who told you that what is on the satellite dish is correct and what is transmitted in other news is not correct?
Then suppose you stayed until twelve o'clock in front of this satellite dish, and it was all news from Morocco to here, what did you benefit from?
The questioner : Nothing.
The Shaykh : Nothing. Are you going to the President of Russia, or the President of America, or the British, or the French, and say to him, O so-and-so, stop at your limit?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes?