Pages

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Believing the Western Media and its News

Shaykh Muqbil bin Haadee (may Allaah have Mercy on him) was asked:
What's the ruling on reading the daily newspapers and magazines so that we may become aware as to what is happening in the community, whether it be political, customary or Islaamic religious news (it is common in Muslim countries to relate beneficial information pertaining to the religion unlike what is found in the papers in the west)?
He replied:
What we advise is to distant ourselves from this. Usually, these papers are full of lies in order to propagate a political agenda, hence they fill these papers with deception in order to fool the masses. 
Rarely do you find these papers reporting what is factual.
Moreover, you must realise that your lifespan is short, so you are not in a position to chase the headlines in the newspapers and the latest gossip in be magazines; such information which will only bring about ones thoughts to become corrupted and their thoughts to be filled with worry.
It may even be that the reader will come across something that insults al-Islaam or something that reviles the Muslims (something very common nowadays but not at the time of the Shaykh).
Whatever the case, I'm not saying reading the newspapers is Haraam, however we strongly advise the student of knowledge to busy themselves with the Quraan and the Sunnah. If the news is that important, it will eventually be relayed to him.
As the poet said:
News comes to you 
Without there being an end to its supply
Therefore important information will make it self-apparent, usually it comes to the surface very quickly. 
If one was to read from sources which are trustworthy such as al-Bayaan, which is an Islaamic magazine, then there is no harm in this. 
As for deviated sources of information, then perhaps they will create doubts in the mind of the reader and cause a great deal of time to be wasted. Moreover, most of those behind the media, including journalists, are full of lies and hypocrisy. 

Shaykh Saaleh bin Fawzaan al-Fawzaan [may Allaah Preserve him] said:

News? What is news!?

Most of it is deception and lies. So what benefit can you gain from it?


Most of the information in the news are lies and a cause to stir the emotions of the viewer/reader. So do not destroy your house by allowing it to enter it; having the false presumption that you will benefit from it.


In it is a great deal of evil. It causes corruption to spread.

No comments:

Post a Comment