What is the alternative?
Since 2012-11-11
Whenever someone talks about this issue and mentions in detail the disadvantages of the TV programs, he faces a strange question “WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE?”
All Praise is due to Allah Who relieves the solicitudes and eliminates the sorrows. And prayers and peace of Allah be upon the most honorable Prophet and Messenger, our prophet Muhammad, and upon all his family and companions.
In the shade of the current media ferocious invasion, many Muslim houses turned to be open yards to the callers of the evil and corruption. People adhered to watching TV channels till it had part of their time schedule, altering their thinking, changing their beliefs and guiding their children!
In some houses, the time of watching TV may be prolonged to several hours. If this time had been calculated, it could equal days and months and years.
Thereupon, many people lose what is more precious, and more important, than gold and silver, it is time.
Money is liable to investment and could be gained through inheritance or as a gift or any other way. On the other hand, time is not liable to investment, inheritance or buying!
Whenever someone talks about this issue and mentions in detail the disadvantages of the TV programs, he faces a strange question “WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE?”
Dear Muslim brother,
If you asked this question truthfully with good intention, you would know that the alternatives are many and changing the course of life is easy like many people who did it before you.
Actually, I am astonished. How could a sane man and a wise woman allow the scum, the malicious, the crusaders, the hypocrites and the ignoble people guide their thinking, educate their children and plant in them the vices and the bad manners that they like!
For every person seeks getting rid of the TV for the sake of Allah Almighty and as obedience to Him, I present many alternatives for the piffling of the actors and actresses, the silliness of the impudent songs, the disreputable shows and the propagation of the ideas that are against the religion of Allah Almighty.
The following are some of these alternatives:
1- Achieving piousness. This will lead to having comfort that takes the shape of soul’s happiness and heart’s tranquility, because Allah Almighty says: {And whosoever fears Allâh and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty)} [Surat At-Talâq 65:2]
{وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا} الطلاق: 2
Transliteration: waman yattaqi Allaha yajAAal lahu makhrajan
And He Almighty says: {Verily, he who fears Allâh with obedience to Him (by abstaining from sins and evil deeds, and by performing righteous good deeds), and is patient, then surely, Allâh makes not the reward of the Muhsinûn (good-doers) to be lost} [Surat Yusuf 12:90]
{إِنَّهُ مَنْ يَتَّقِ وَيَصْبِرْ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ} يوسف: 90
Transliteration: innahu man yattaqi wayasbir fainna Allaha la yudeeAAu ajra almuhsineena
Among the mightiest kinds of patience is to be patient during performing the acts of worship and abstaining from the unlawful. I remember a pious woman used to cancel many of her appointments and visits lest her children watch TV; thereupon, Allah Almighty honored her by making her children dutiful to their parents and memorizers to the Book of Allah Almighty. They delighted the eyes of their parents.
2- Paying attention to worship in general and performing the prayers in their prescribed times in specific and doing much of the supererogatory acts of worship (e.g. recommended prayers and fasting, ‘Umra, charity, recitation of the Holy Qur`an … etc.) The person who feels emptiness and loneliness is the person who neglected the supererogatory acts of worship and neglected obligatory acts of worship. Many worshippers consider the time and its shortness and how quickly it elapsed because they invested it very well.
3- Seeking the times of accepting the invocation and praying humbly to Allah Almighty. Actually the TV programs and keeping watching them are affliction Allah Almighty would eliminate by our invocation, fighting our desires and patience.
4- Knowing the Fatawa of the scholars about watching TV and its programs, and planting the hate of what is prohibited in the hearts of the children and educating them on how to obey Allah Almighty and abstaining from whatever is prohibited. This is obligatory, especially after moving from the phase of just stirring up desires to stirring up doubt about axioms we believe in them and are part of the fundamentals of Islam.
5- Reading about the TV programs and its danger. This facilitates patience, because knowing the religious, medical and psychological harms solaces whoever wants to get rid of watching TV and seeks safety. I recommend reading ‘imprints on my child’ by Tayiba Al-Yahya; she mentioned figures and statistics that make the Muslim neglect TV. Moreover, in the bookstores, there are unique books about educating the children Islamic education.
6- Investing the times in practicing social duties like having kindness toward the parents, uniting the ties of kinship and caring for the widows, orphans and helping the needy people.
7- Caring for seeking knowledge and encouraging the family to increase their knowledge about the Shari’ah, especially after it became easy by the availability of the audio tapes of the scholars. The person could assign to himself and his family a daily or weekly lesson.
8- Adhering all the members of the family, and the children, with the biography of the Messenger of Allah (prayers and peace of Allah be upon him), his message, patience and jihad, and knowing the details of his life, because this has an effect on educating the selves, refining them and making them concerned only with the exalted issues.
9- Having regular daily lessons for memorizing verses of the Holy Qur`an. This has very great effect. If someone planed for memorizing some verses each day, he would memorize the Holy Qur`an completely in few years. Actually, this is the success in this life and in the hereafter too. Some people reached the age of forty and did not memorize even five parts of the Book of Allah Almighty!
10- Having a library in the house that contains books about all fields and be reachable to everyone. This would develop the skills and the mental faculties through reading; till the book becomes a friend for all the members of the family and they do not feel boredom with it.
11- Utilizing the available computer programs that include competitions, IQ tests and so on.
12- Knowing the blessings of Allah, and investing the time in good acts, because time is a great blessing. Ibn Al-Qayim said: “In short, if the servant neglected the way of Allah and committed the sins, he would lose the days of his life, and he would regret in the day in which he will say: {Alas! Would that I had sent forth (good deeds) for (this) my life!} [Surat Al-Fajr 89:24]
{يَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِي} الفجر: 24
Transliteration: Yaqoolu ya laytanee qaddamtu lihayatee
Knowing the value of the time leads to caring for it and preserving it and spending it in what brings good.” The wise man notices missing a lot of worships because of watching TV. Actually, missing the prayers and especially Fajr prayer is evidence to that, and neglecting uniting the ties of kinship and the family duties is another evidence for this fact. Wasting the time in such way is a motivation for considering and reckoning!
13- Camping in remote areas, having fun with the wife and the children, fulfilling their desires to playing, running, climbing mountains and playing with sand. These outings are one of the best ways for strengthening the relationship between the man and his family. It is better than going to the places of entertainment that have some prohibited things and prevent the father from sitting with his family in absolute freedom.
14- Having daily sport program for the father, mother and children, even if it is just ten minutes of simple exercises.
15- Visiting the righteous good people and taking lessons from their experiences, speeches and having a relationship between them and the children to be examples to them instead of the actors and clowns.
16- Busying the girls with house duties and training them in doing the housework and making them accustomed for bearing the responsibility of the house, educating the children and caring for them.
17- Having a schedule (e.g. monthly schedule) for attending some lectures for scholars in the Masjid.
18- Participation by the effort and time in the associations of relief and charity for relieving the solicitudes and sufferings of Muslims.
19- Having an open day in the house for giving the beneficial speeches, spreading the good between all, presenting the ideas and seeing the achievements of the children.
20- Having a checklist for the activities, degrees and appreciations to the children and giving a point for every good deed and another point for every unique effort. And then, at the end of the week, there are prizes for the one who gains the highest points. The same is applied for discipline and studying all the days of the week and so on.
21- Registering the children in the groups of memorizing the Holy Qur`an in the Masjid, and registering the mother and the daughters in the houses of remembrance for memorizing the Holy Qur`an and displaying the joy because of that and encouraging them to review their memorizing with each other and mentioning what they had memorized. This would make a tie between them and the Book of Allah.
22- Having days for entertainment. In these days they get together and have open talks with some concentration on the stories of repentance and Muslims’ grieves and the stories of those who had recently became Muslims and mentioning some good allowed jokes.
23- Attentively contemplating on the houses of many good people, that have no TVs, and pondering on the righteousness of their children, the stability of their families and the goodness of their bringing up with piety and righteousness, because this encourages the man to imitate them and encourages the mother to take them as examples.
24- Thanking Allah Almighty and praising him much for His substituting disobedience with worship and His substituting to the evil deeds with good deeds and feeling pleasure because of that. This leads to having firmness in the attitude and having great transformation in the family.
25- Having familial acts of calling for the way of Allah, such as having correspondence with those who love correspondence and calling them to adhere to this religion and sending books to them, or writing a message of guidance for the students and others. In short, everyone can write to his peers.
26- Choosing righteous families for visiting them and knowing how they invest their times and asking them how they live happily without TV!
27- Many people do not know the hopes of their daughters or the hobbies of their sons or the solicitudes of their wives. This is because the time of the family is wasted in just gathering round the TV. Without the TV there would be more conversations and rapprochement by mentioning the stories, jokes and reciprocating speeches and opinions.
28- Caring for the hobbies of children and guiding them toward serving Islam and the Muslims and encouraging them to practice the beneficial hobbies.
29- Making researches is a sign for the ability of the person and his knowledge. There is a specific level of researches for every age. This makes the family lives in an atmosphere of knowledge if it wanted and sought that.
30- Many people consider knowing the news and events an excuse for having the TV. Although this care, they are inattentive to the news of the hereafter and the events of the day of regret and the terrors of resurrection and the Sirat … etc. Actually, it could be enough for them to listen to the radio and read the newspapers to know the news and the events.
31- If a person or institution asked you to put in the living room of your house five persons; a handsome man, a beautiful woman, dissolute person, clown and evangelist, and you asked them not to talk with your children and your wife except in your presence, could you get out feeling contentment after leaving them in your own house?! As long as this is the situation, you should get them out, if there is still some faith in your heart, even if there is no alternative.
Dear Muslim brother and sister,
There are many things that would not have enough time if we mentioned them; therefore, we just aimed to mention some of them to get rid of the evils that are between the hands of the Muslims. Actually, obeying Allah Almighty and fearing Him is the best help. This small house is your kingdom that you could make an orchard blooming with obedience, worship, good behaviors and good mien.
Many people turned this house into hell because of the badness of education, committing sins and having evil behaviors {they destroyed their own dwellings with their own hands} [Surat Al-Hashr 59:2]
{يُخْرِبُونَ بُيُوتَهُمْ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ} الحشر: 2
Transliteration: yukhriboona buyootahum biaydeehim
Also, disobedience has an evil omen as well as the obedience has an effect.
O dear father and dear mother,
The responsibility is mighty and the reckoning is severe and the trust is between your own hands. Thereupon, beware of wasting the children and neglecting them, because tomorrow you will be questioned about them; Allah Almighty says: {O you who believe! Ward off yourselves and your families against a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones} [Surat At-Tahrîm 66:6]
{يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ} التحريم: 6
Transliteration: Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo qoo anfusakum waahleekum naran waqooduha alnnasu waalhijaratu
And I remind you with the saying of the Messenger of Allah (prayers and peace of Allah be upon him): “Every one of you is a guardian and everyone is questioned about his subjects. The Amir (ruler) is a shepherd over the people and shall be questioned about his subjects (as to how he conducted their affairs) A man is a guardian over the members of his family and shall be questioned about them (as to how he looked after their physical and moral well-being).” [Reported by Muslim]
«ألا كلكم راعٍ وكلكم مسئول عن رعيته، فالأمير الذي على الناس راع، وهو مسئول عن رعيته، والرجل راعٍ على أهل بيته وهو مسئول عنهم» رواه مسلم
I am sure that many parents would get rid of the TVs if they knew that it could cause a specific disease to whoever watches it even for minutes. They would care if it was physiological disease; however, the situation is different as long as it is a disease for the hearts and the desires. There is a great difference between our age and the age of the early days of Islam. When the verse that prohibits the wine had revealed, the companions did not say: ‘we deal with it from years and we have great stored amount’ or ‘what is the alternative?!’
Rather, the roads had been wetted by the spilled wine as obedience and submission to Allah. And when the verse of the veil had been revealed, the Muslim women got out their houses like the crows, because of wearing the blackness that displays nothing of their bodies {It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allâh and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allâh and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed into a plain error} [Surat Al-Ahzab 33:36]
{وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلالا مُبِينًا} الأحزاب: 36
Transliteration:Wama kana limuminin wala muminatin itha qada Allahu warasooluhu amran an yakoona lahumu alkhiyaratu min amrihim waman yaAAsi Allaha warasoolahu faqaddalla dalalan mubeenan
And Allah says to the Muslims: {And let those who oppose the Messenger’s [Muhammad prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) commandment (i.e. his Sunnah - legal ways, orders, acts of worship, statements) (among the sects) beware, lest some Fitnah (disbelief, trials, afflictions, earthquakes, killing, overpowered by a tyrant) should befall them or a painful torment be inflicted on them} [Surat An-Nûr 24:63]
{فَلْيَحْذَرِ الَّذِينَ يُخَالِفُونَ عَنْ أَمْرِهِ أَنْ تُصِيبَهُمْ فِتْنَةٌ أَوْ يُصِيبَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ} النور: 63
Transliteration: falyahthari allatheena yukhalifoona AAan amrihi an tuseebahum fitnatun aw yuseebahum AAathabun aleemun
May Allah make the eyes of the parents delighted with their children’s piousness and may He multiply the reward for the parents because of the goodness of their bringing up to their children and the goodness of guiding them. And prayers and peace of Allah be upon our prophet Muhammad and all his family and companions.
Abdel-Malik Al-Qasem
Slightly Modified
Al-Qasem House
- Category:
- Source: