Don't Get Stuck On Your Screen, Limit Your Entertainment

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

There was a businessman, Nadr ibn Harith, from Makkah who was one of the top businessmen from among the polytheists of Makkah. He used to travel to different countries in connection with his business. According to a narration of Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas, the businessman brought in a singing bondwoman he bought in a foreign country. It was through her that he devised a plan to stop people from listening to the Qur'an. When he found anyone intending to go and listen to the Qur'an, he would have him hear his bondwoman sing before him. He used to say: 'Muhammad makes you listen to the Qur'an, then goes on to ask you to pray and fast which make life difficult for you. Come, you listen to this music and enjoy the fun.'

A verse of the Qur'an was revealed in relation to this event, though it is general.

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِى لَهْوَ ٱلْحَدِيثِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّـهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّخِذَهَا هُزُوًا ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ ﴿٦

And of the people is he who buys the amusement of speech to mislead [others] from the way of Allah without knowledge and who takes it in ridicule. Those will have a humiliating punishment. (6)

[Qur'an, Luqman 31:6]

There are industries dedicated to just keeping people's free time occupied, whether it be the movies industries, sports industries, or video games industries. Obviously they are not there for your busy time but they are there for your free time. They want to occupy that entire time and they invested a lot in it.

The entertainment not only is distracting and taking people away from the path of Allah but the activities themselves have a lot of evil in them. They make certain evil and heinous things commonplace. Entertainers and singers talked about things that are normally not talked about in decent settings and things people won't speak to descent people about but those are the kinds of vocabulary they used, and social phenomena and vulgarities they talked about. Certain things that are taboo in society and not supposed to happen in society become commonplace and become acceptable. Youths want to follow because they have seen them on TV. They want to dress like the entertainers, talk like them, and reiterate the words they used. And so it creates a culture of misguidance.

There are limits that we have to put on our entertainment so we don't fall into misguidance. We are living in a time like never before that we have immediate gratifying access to entertainment. We don't have to wait for a TV show to come on. You can just Netflix it, Youtube it -- they are right there all the time. And then if the movie entertainment wasn't bad enough, your iPod is there to fill in the space. You can't watch movies while driving, so at least you can listen to songs. If you can't get 3G connection and can't finish the movies you already have 20 video games installed on your phone to fill up your free time wherever you are.

So there is not a moment of your day that goes entertainment free. And that time is supposed to be spent doing the dhikr of Allah

But this creates a form of corruption in in society. This entertainment does not add to any knowledge. They don't even realize even realize the kind of misguidance they are doing and they take the path of Allah as a joke. Those are the kinds of people who will have humiliating punishment. You don't want to go down with them.

Trash those things that have distract or taken you away from the path of Allah -- movies, video games, music, etc. You should encourage your family to do same. And now you will have time to do dhikr, pray and reflect on the beauty of Allah's creation.

People who are obsessed with entertainment have no time to observe the beauty of the world around them -- sky, trees, mountains, waterfall, lakes, oceans, rain. They are too stuck on their screens.

خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍ تَرَوْنَهَا ۖ وَأَلْقَىٰ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ رَوَٰسِىَ أَن تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ دَآبَّةٍ ۚ وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَنۢبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ كَرِيمٍ ﴿١٠﴾ هَـٰذَا خَلْقُ ٱللَّـهِ فَأَرُونِى مَاذَا خَلَقَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن دُونِهِۦ ۚ بَلِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ فِى ضَلَـٰلٍ مُّبِينٍ ﴿١١

He created the heavens without pillars that you see and has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it should shift with you, and dispersed therein from every creature. And We sent down rain from the sky and made grow therein [plants] of every noble kind. (10) This is the creation of Allah. So show Me what those other than Him have created. Rather, the wrongdoers are in clear error. (11)

[Qur'an, Luqman 31:10-11]

May Allah make us people of His constant remembrance. Ameen.

And Allah knows best
Wassalaam