The Albaani Site

Questioner: What is your opinion on watching Islamic films, especially those that awaken a religious passion in some Muslims, and especially like the one called, ‘The Message,’ which contains events that happened at the start of the spread of Islaam and the call, and even if your answer is that it is impermissible I would like a clarification as to the reasons why?

Al-Albaani: The questioner hit the nail on the head when he said, ‘… and even if your answer is that it is impermissible …’ yes, I do say it is not allowed. Plays are not legislated in Islaam for many reasons.

Firstly because they are from the way of the disbelievers, and the way of the disbelievers suits them, not the Muslims. Because the disbelievers feel as though they need some kind of stimulus or incentive to push them to good, they don’t have a legislation [sharīʾah] which has the good that we have, alḥamdulillah, just like you heard the Prophet’s saying ﷺ, ‘I have not left out anything which will bring you closer to Allaah …’

One āyah let alone a whole sūrah, if it became widespread amongst the Muslims and explained to them, is enough to take the place of many, many numerous plays/films.

The Muslims are not in need of these new methods especially when they sprout from the lands of disbelief about which Allaah ﷻ said, ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allaah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allaah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the tax, willingly submitting, fully humbled.’ [9:29]

So how can we take the methodology, customs and ways of a nation that does not regard things as ḥalāl and ḥarām and then come and apply them to ourselves?!

I liked when that one time I was listening to someone give a lecture and he said, ‘The example of Muslims in their blind-following of westerners is like a fat person who took a thawb that was sewn for someone else who was slim. So he wants to wear it but the end result is that he won’t be able to and the thawb will rip, because it wasn’t made for his size and vice-versa.’

So those means suit them not us, because we have something better than that as is mentioned in the ḥadīth of Jābir ibn ʿAbdullah ﵁ who said, ‘One day the Prophet ﷺ saw a page in ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb’s ﵁ hand and so said to him, ‘What is this?’ He said, ‘A page from the tawrāh, one of the Jews wrote it for me.’ So he ﷺ said, ‘Are you in a state of confusion as the Jews and the Christians were? By the One in whose Hands Muḥammad’s soul is! If Moses were alive he would have no choice but to follow me.’ If Moses ﷺ were alive, and he is the one Allaah spoke to directly [i.e., Kalīmullāh], he would have no choice but to follow the Prophet ﷺ.

So what about us today then, we follow, rather we are the tails [that wag] to every shiny thing that comes to us from those people who do not prohibit what Allaah or His Messenger ﷺ have.

This is the reason why I say these plays are not allowed.

The second thing is that there will for sure be lies in these films which have no truth to them in Islamic history or the sīrah. And so that is another reason to stop us from blindly-imitating the Europeans in their plays/films because they live according to that famous principle, ‘The ends justify the means.’ So for example, the end is to make money, but the means are not important, ḥalāl ḥarām [it’s not important], [but] this goes against Islaam which made the ḥalāl and ḥarām way clear for us, where he said, ‘Take the ḥalāl and leave the ḥarām.’

So those people add things into their plays which have no truth to them at all, and so we, too, follow behind them in their footsteps, confirming the saying of the Prophet ﷺ, ‘You will follow the ways of those before, handspan by handspan …’

Thirdly and lastly, there will be other infractions in these plays, i.e., men imitating women or women imitating men, or men and women mixing, two choices the sweeter of which, [as they say], is still bitter. So how can we respond favourably to such films?

For example, [here is] a totally clear cut example, there will be a man, subḥānallāh, a man with a beard as Allaah made him, but in following the customs of the disbelievers he shaves it but then when he gets a role where, for example, he has to play a Companion he puts a fake one on, so he is deceiving the people. He was created with a beard but then disobeys Allaah and shaves it but when he gets a role to play he comes in front of the people acting as though he has one, isn’t that a lie? The same when you have a young guy who doesn’t yet have a beard but they put [a fake] one on him etc.

So for this reason if you study these plays/films, yaʿnī, we come to the conclusion that they are not permitted in the Religion of Islam—especially when they are connected to the message of the Prophet ﷺ, for there will be lies, with this person acting as though he is ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ﵁ and that other one acting as though she is his sister and so on.

Lies upon lies. And whatever’s foundation is corrupt is corrupt.

This is enough, and all praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all Worlds.
Asʾilah wa Fatāwal-Imārāt, 12.