Fatwa on the internet – Shaikh Ibn ul-‘Uthaymeen
Answer: “It is known that the internet has in it good and evil and the one seeking good in it will find it. In it is the sciences of the Shairah, sciences of language, sciences of manufacturing and other than that. In it is pure evil and much evil and it has reached me that it is more severe in its consequence than the satellite channels.
So my advice to my brothers in terms of the internet or satellite channels is to fear Allah in themselves and that they know that they were not created for that. They were only created for the worship of Allah azza wa jall. If they lower themselves to what resembles animals, and it is the gratification of wants and desires, then he has lost the worldly life and the hereafter. I seek Allah’s refugee.
So it is upon my Muslim brothers to guard their religion and to guard their time and not to waste this precious, precious, precious lifespan. By Allah, one minute is more honorable than a thousand dirhams. Do you not see that if it is said to someone when death approaches: give us all the world and we will postpone you [ie. your death] one minute, he would say: yes. Like this Allah says:
Until, when death comes to one of them (those who join partners with Allah), he says: “My Lord! Send me back. So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!” No! It is but a word that he speaks, and behind them is Barzakh (a barrier) until the Day when they will be resurrected. [23:99-100]
I ask Allah to grant for all of us a good ending. Like this it comes in a hadith:
ما من ميت يموت إلا ندم، إن كان محسناً ندم ألا يكون ازداد، وإن كان مسيئاً ندم ألا يكون استعتب
'There is not a deceased person who dies, except he regrets. If he was a good doer, he will regret that he did not increase and if he was an evil doer, he will regret that he did not stop.'
[Daif Tirmidhi no. 2403 and others]
"Guard your lifespan Oh my brother, by Allah it is more expensive than gold and silver. If a person does not waste his dirham and dirhaams, so then how does he waste this lifespan, which upon it runs happiness or misery. Oh Allah make us from the happy ones [ie. going to Paradise], Oh Allah make us from the happy ones, Oh Allah make us from the happy ones. Oh Lord of the worlds.”
[Liqaa ash-Shari no. 72]
Translated by
Faisal ibn Abdul Qaadir ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan
NOTE: Fatwas are non-binding.