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Concerning the question: “Are we permitted to watch ‘The Passion’?”  

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

The first point that you mention applies to non-Muslims, not to Muslims. There are many things that take place today that are not permitted for Muslims to do themselves, but because of their reality are permitted to do by our modern day traditional scholars. For example, attending classrooms in which women teachers are not clad in the proper hijab is one simple example.

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

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

Sidi, Jazak Allah khayr for your comments.

“The first point that you mention applies to non-Muslims, not to Muslims. There are many things that take place today that are not permitted for Muslims to do themselves, but because of their reality are permitted to do by our modern day traditional scholars. For example, attending classrooms in which women teachers are not clad in the proper hijab is one simple example.”

1. There is a difference in levels of sin.

2. There are things that are permitted because of need. Other things are permitted because the sin is considered ‘incidental’: such as attending places where one’s benefits are realized though there is sinful activity there (such as going to school or shopping). This is opposed to frequenting a ‘place of sin’ such as a bar or nightclub, which is not permitted even if one has permitted interests therein, except in very exceptional circumstances.

The difference between going to a lecture at university taught by a teacher who is not in hijab and going to the movie theatres to watch a movie depicting Prophet Isa (peace and blessings be upon him) in the ways he is depicted is clear.

“Concerning the second point, which I have more trouble with, the use of Imam Ibn Abidin, rahimuhu Allah, is taken out of an improper context. During the Imams time, the lay person were all non-learned (the lay person’s literacy rate today is much higher) and it was thus deemed inappropriate for them to be “exposing themselves to such matters”. However, the questioner, is outwardly a Muslim with sound conviction, and although he is not a scholar, there is very little doubt that he or people in his position will be susceptible to the beliefs in this movie. It is after all, just that, a movie.”

1. In Ibn Abidin’s time, people had much stronger faith, and much deeper understanding of matters of religion. Ibn Abidin’s son, Ala’ al-Din Abidin, wrote a 400-page primer in fiqh called al-Hadiyya al-`Ala’iyya li Talameedh al-Makatib al-Ibtida’iyya (‘Ala’s Gift to Students of Primary Schools’). Now, your average adult student of knowledge with a few years of study under his belt finds this book challenging—the ‘lay person’ has no clue about much of it.

While more people may be able to read and write, the level of understanding, critical skills, and religious awareness are far less than they were among those of even basic education.

As for faith, there is no comparison: even common people a few generations ago would recite a lot of Qur’an, perform much voluntary prayer, attend gatherings of remembrance of Allah and knowledge, and have close relations with scholars.

Even now, a religious grocer in a city like Damascus, nominally ‘non-learned’, but of deep faith and religious understanding through his interaction with scholars, would be far less likely to be affected by such a movie and its contents than the average Muslim university student in the West.

2. The Shariah is strict about watching, listening to, and acquiescing to sin. It is not ‘just a movie’—it is something replete with things that are sinful according to the Sacred Law.

“The third point is irrelevant as did does not need to be fulfilled through other means if the question of need does not arise. If there was a need, it would only be a fard kifayah anways.”

I fail to understand the logic behind this statement, Sidi. Since there is no need to watch this movie—given that the benefits that could possibly be gained from doing so could be attained otherwise—then the factors of impermissibility would predominate.

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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