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Are we permitted to watch “The Passion?” 

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Someone asked this question: According to the shariah, are we permitted to watch “The Passion” by Mel Gibson, the controversial new movie which depicts a Catholic account of the last part of Christ’s earthly life? The intention in watching this would be to gain more knowledge about the Catholic viewpoint for da’wah purposes…

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Besides the question of whether it is proper (or even permitted) for a Muslim to watch movies or go to the theatre:

1. It is not permitted to represent the prophets in acting and the like, as this does not befit their rank and the veneration that is obligatory towards them.

2. The story told in this movie has many points in clear contradiction to Islamic beliefs–it is not permitted for the lay person to willingly expose themselves to such matters, and only permitted for scholars or those who have a solid grasp of the Islamic understanding and firm faith, to the extent of the needs of scholarly discourse and da`wah. [As mentioned by Ibn Abidin in Radd al-Muhtar, and others]

3. The question of need does not arise, as it can be reasonably fulfilled through other means such as reading relevant scholarly literature–which is also more informative and representative.

And Allah alone gives success.

Wassalam.

Faraz Rabbani

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

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