← Back to Videos
This content has been automatically translated. View original in Arabic
Answers to Questions on Two Episodes
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EyadQunaibi
Twitter account @Dr_EyadQun
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EyadQunaibi
Twitter account @Dr_EyadQun
Tell me, is the sound and picture clear? Is the image upside down or not? This is the first time I am trying live streaming on YouTube, and I think I tried before and the attempt failed. It seems to me that everything is fine now, isn't it? Please confirm if the image is correct.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. The sound is perfect. We do not want to prolong the introductions. May Allah grant you goodness, peace be upon you, and let us begin with the blessing of Allah. We ask Allah, the Most High, to bless us and you in this session.
The title of the session is "Answers to Questions on Two Episodes," which are answers to questions from dear people who responded to my episodes: "Friends Who Spend Hours Watching Movies" and then "How to Persist in Repentance." As I mentioned in the announcement before this session, the response was wonderful from our brothers and sisters, and this carries a responsibility that I feel as their brother: to support them morally and answer their questions so that they may persist, by the permission of Allah, the Most High.
We will try to answer as many questions as we can, and please forgive us if we cannot answer everyone due to time constraints. Today, I will address about 20 to 25 questions, but before that, I would like to speak about some important general introductions.
The context began with a message from a brother who was sad about his friends who spend hours watching movies. I spoke about the importance of time and the prohibition of introducing what does not please Allah to the hearing and sight. Then, many questions arose: "How do we fill our free time?"
The wisdom is not for me to tell you, "Fill your free time with one, two, three," but to understand the causes of this free time. My goal is to transform interests. The duty of the caller to Islam is to make you a person with a concern, so that if you waste your time, you feel as if you are sitting on "burning coals."
The author of "Said al-Khatir" says a great word: "Among the elite are people who, since they woke up, have not slept, and since they walked, have not stopped. They are in ascent and progress; every time they cover a distance, they look and see the palaces they were in and seek forgiveness." As soon as you have an interest and a goal in life, "entertainment" becomes the exception, not the rule.
The treatment of idleness is by knowing the purpose of your life. As a Muslim, you have great goals: a paradise whose expanse is the heavens and the earth, the restoration of the nation's glory, defending the oppressed, and spreading the religion. A person cannot live a day without taking steps towards these goals.
The second problem is the "incorrect psychological makeup." We are a nation that should be serious, a nation of jihad, building, and construction of the earth. However, the existing idleness is due to not taking responsibility. A young man at the age of seventeen says, "I have finished what I have to do, I prayed and studied, what should I do now?"
This is an educational mistake; the young man is raised as a "student only" until the age of twenty-five, whereas the original is that he learns to take responsibility for his home, arrange his room, help his parents, and master manual and life skills. Look at the history of the companions: Usama bin Zayd led an army in which Abu Bakr and Umar were present when he was seventeen! Al-Arqam bin Abi Al-Arqam, Al-Zubayr bin Al-Awwam, and Ali bin Abi Talib... all of them left great imprints while they were young.
We want to change the type of "pleasures" in our lives. Why do we limit enjoyment to screens and games? Sayyid Qutb says in his book "Afrah al-Ruh": "Through experience, I knew that nothing in this life is equal to that spiritual joy that we find when we can bring comfort, satisfaction, hope, or joy to the hearts of others."
There are great doors of enjoyment that are closed to the youth, such as:
We want to reach the stage of "denouncing evil" and hating it in the heart, so that you do not say to me, "I suffer because I cannot follow," but you say, "I have become disgusted and angry when I see immoral scenes." You should feel that these movies want to manipulate your mind and corrupt your morals.
I remember a word from Dr. Muhammad Abdul Quddus Al-Afifi - may Allah reward him with goodness - that he saw in his son's hand a magazine "Mickey Mouse," so he opened it and found in it doctrinal and moral violations, so he said to his son, "I want you to extract the doctrinal errors that contradict our religion in this magazine, and you will have a reward for every error." The son went and began to search eagerly until he said at the end, "What is this nonsense? How was I reading this poisonous talk?" So he left it on his own. We want to reach this zeal for religion and the self.
Many brothers ask about detailed rulings: What is the ruling on music? What is the ruling on drawing? Gentlemen, the approach that my brother Iyad has taken is "certainties." I am not a jurist nor do I issue myself as a jurist who answers detailed issues, but my role as a caller to Islam is to charge the spirits in the direction of accepting Allah's Sharia and building it and the certainty that it is the truth.
I do not like mixing certainties (such as the existence of Allah, the truth of Islam, and the obligation of ruling by the Sharia) with issues in which there is a difference of opinion, even if it is a rare difference of opinion. For example, I see the prohibition of music as clear and the difference of opinion in it as rare, and yet I do not carry the banner of speaking about it so that it does not mix with the certainties in the mind of the recipient. My goal is to charge you with motivation, and if a legal ruling from the jurists becomes clear to you, you leave it to Allah, the Most High, and you are certain that Allah will compensate you with something better than it.
Question: What is your opinion on historical films and series (such as Ertugrul and Osman) or cartoons that tell the stories of the prophets as a middle ground?
Answer: Regarding "music," there is a difference between "hearing" and "listening." If the film is documentary or historically beneficial and contains background music, you lower the volume and do not intend to be entertained by it, and this, I hope, is not problematic.
As for the "scenes," historical series may ignite enthusiasm, but they are interspersed with beautiful women (even if they are covered) and young men and simon, which may cause an undesirable emotional attachment, especially since the actors themselves may perform bad roles in other works.
Regarding cartoons about the stories of the prophets and companions, there are beautiful series such as "Stories of Animals in the Quran," but they contain errors. My advice to the understanding father is to sit with his children and practice with them "critical thinking," alerting them to places of doctrinal or educational error in these works, as this is a very useful exercise for building the child's character.
Question: How does a person know that he has reached the stage of hardness of heart? And how does he taste the sweetness of faith?
Answer: Among the greatest signs of hardness of heart is aversion to acts of worship (such as disliking prayer and reciting the Quran), and that evil becomes not evil in your eyes. If a person begins to justify the forbidden to himself and describes those who hold fast to religion as speaking about "trivial matters," this is a dangerous sign. The return is through repentance, acknowledging the sin, and not getting bored of returning to Allah even if you sin a million times.
Question: What do you advise us to listen to during commute time?
Answer: There are many things. Personally, I have greatly benefited from the historical series by Dr. Ragheb Al-Sarjani (Al-Andalus, the Tatars, the Prophet's biography), as they connect history to reality. Also, series on the jurisprudence of worship to remove ignorance from oneself. Do not underestimate the quarter hour and the third hour; they make a big difference in your personality and information in the long run.
Question: What do we do with our children? And what can we replace cartoons with?
Answer: Children need "communication". The problem is that we put the child in front of the screen so that we can relax.
Question: I stopped watching movies, but some of my friends started watching them because of me in the past, so what should I do?
Answer: First, we ask Allah to grant you sincere repentance, and regret is repentance. But there remains bitterness in the heart; for if a person causes others to corrupt, he feels guilty, and this is what makes us say to the youth: "Do not delay your repentance", because repentance, even if accepted, does not always erase the painful worldly consequences. My advice to you: Since your friends imitate you, strive for them to imitate you now in goodness. Do not leave them (unless they negatively affect your faith) and advise them and do not get tired of that, perhaps Allah will guide them through you.
Question: You mentioned the importance of critical thinking, so what are the sources you recommend for learning it?
Answer: I recommend the programs of our brother, the distinguished professor Ahmed Al-Sayyid, such as: "The Rising Generation", "Methodical Construction", and "The Art of Debate". These programs provide you with daily curricula (visual and written) and build your mind correctly. I also warn against "YouTubers" who deal with Islam in a misleading way and manipulate texts for pseudo-scientific theories; because shaking certainties corrupts the intellectual system completely. And you should take care to read the Quran with contemplation, for it is sufficient against philosophy and its evils.
Question: I am a student of English literature in Europe, and we are asked to watch movies, listen to music, and read novels with bad values to improve the language, so what should I do?
Answer: Do not get used to the principle of "either adapt or withdraw". There is a third choice, which is "confrontation with an alternative". Tell them: "This film does not suit my values and religion, I want a historical or documentary alternative". I went through a similar experience in America during the speaking test (TSE), and the questions contradicted my religion (about girlfriends and music), so I answered clearly that I am a Muslim and do not do that, and I succeeded by the grace of Allah because they want to test "your ability to speak" not "your agreement with their desires". As for reading, if you have a strong legal immunity to distinguish the defect, there is no harm in strengthening the language, but try to suggest more refined literary alternatives to your teachers.
Brothers, I would have liked to answer all the questions, but I am tied to an appointment and did not expect the session to last this long.
Always remember: the forbidden is little and the permissible is much, but the media and cinematic machine works to "amplify the forbidden" as if it is the original. The forbidden is ugly in itself (such as fornication, alcohol, and smoking), but the devil beautifies it. Allah the Almighty has created for us all the good things on earth, so let us occupy ourselves with them.
You are precious to my heart, and I hope you will be among the gates of Paradise that we enter, if Allah wills. I ask Allah to strengthen you and increase you in guidance, and to gather us with you in the shade of His Throne on a day when there is no shade but His.
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.