TV’S HARMFUL EFFECTS
By the grace of Allah, Allah (swt) in His infinite
wisdom and grace has given me again the Tawfiq
to continue my sermon today on the subject of: “The Harmful Effects of Television”.
Indeed the time that you lose watching TV is a time which you cannot gain back
again, and verily you are in no position to know the exact remaining days which
you have before you, before you leave this world. Therefore, maximize what time
remains for you in the worship of Allah (Ibaadat),
and the seeking of His forgiveness and mercy (Istigfaar). Spend all your time in the path of Allah by doing the
works of religion and spend your money also for the propagation of the unity of
Allah. Do not spend your money in useless preoccupations wherein there is no
divine reward or pleasure.
Islam teaches us that despite all that which we
possess (on earth), we verily have no right to use it in the way we want for
all these things verily belong to Allah alone: our body, our strength, our
time, our money and knowledge, etc. As for TV, it makes us waste our time and money in the
disobedience of Allah and it makes us become lazy. With each second that you
spend before TV you waste your existence, and verily you shall one day have to
account for all that before your Creator. Your TV set plays day and night to
such an extent that your electricity bill becomes enormous. It is verily wastage
of your money, for apart from (national) television, you get to subscribe to
other private channels and you have to pay for all that every month.
Bear in
mind that you have to account for all wealth/ money which Allah has given you
before Him one day. Therefore, instead of wasting money, put the money to good
use in the treasury of the Jamaat, to spend for the cause of Allah. This shall
verily be a blessing for you for Allah shall put His blessings in your money
and home and Insha-Allah, you shall have
a great reward for it in the hereafter. What you sow in this world, you shall
reap it in the hereafter. When you sow good deeds solely for the cause of
Allah, therefore you shall reap an infinite reward both in this world and the
hereafter. Verily the reward in the hereafter shall be much better and grand.
Time spent before TV is time wasted. Not only time,
but you lose also your money and the love of Allah and your home becomes
deprive of blessings. Moreover this ruins your health and your eyes become
weaker and weaker. Long TV sessions also make you become very lazy and
encourage you to manifest your satanic side and you leave the teachings of
Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). Besides, this is a means by which the enemies
of Islam also use to destroy the religion which Allah (swt) has perfected.
Each Muslim must know in which unique way Allah (swt)
has permitted us to use the oxygen of this world. This is verily to do His Ibaadah (worship). Besides Salat, all deeds done to reap the
pleasure of Allah are acts of worship. Therefore, ask yourselves that question:
Does watching TV (especially the indecent
movies and programmes which are ruining our lives, family lives and environment
etc.) form part of the Ibaadat that Allah (swt) has sent us to earth to
accomplish?
What shall you, a mere traveller, do when the time
shall come for you to leave this temporary world? Shall you then tell Allah
(swt): “O Allah, give me more time so
that I may become among Your good servants.”?
Allah shall tell you: “There is no respite for you; there is no
renewing of your visa here. You have been given your number of days to live so
that you might become among My good servants, but you lost all these precious
time and days before TV with all its harmful effects. You have got only a little
good out of TV compared to the great extent of its harm.”
Islam has taught us also to live in peace and when
there is peace within us, all people around us shall also get this peace. Islam
has not taught us to act violently against our near and dear ones and humanity
in general. Islam has also not taught us to rob others of their rights. Islam
has not only made us consider each person who reads the Kalima as our brother, but it has also taught us that his life,
honour and wealth are sacred just like the Holy Quran is greatly sacred for us
(for it is the words of Allah).
As for TV, it makes you and your children
witness brutality and violence every day, and this incite you to act likewise,
and thus peace disappears and you no longer feel secure. Therefore, see for
yourselves the teachings which TV is showing you and your kids: how to become
violent and rob others in a professional way etc.
Islam has taught us not to laugh a lot for too much laughing
kills the heart. As for TV, with its comedy programmes (with all its indecent
ingredients mixed!) you and your children keep on laughing with all these
comedies which are also accompanied by indecency. You admire them, and keep on
laughing and this can kill your heart, for then, you no longer feel the
greatness of Allah in the heart and you forget that one day (on the Day of
Judgement) you shall have to present yourselves before Him. Moreover, this
makes you shun all notions of hell and divine punishments as well as good deeds
and the reward of paradise. Now, ask yourselves these questions: How much has your heart become hard? And how
much has Satan gained authority over your hearts?
Islam has showed us the reality of our lives. Our
presence on earth is to live in the worship of Allah for we are His servants and
we need to make His laws prevail in each aspect of our lives. Life on earth is
short and it ends with an evitable thing which is called death. After death, we
shall have to present ourselves before the court of Allah to account for each
deed or word we did and pronounced respectively, and afterwards, there are only
two destinations for us, either hell or paradise.
As for TV, it not only makes
us forget the reality of our existence on earth, but it even gives us a false image
of life. Television makes us believe that we are ourselves recipient of powers
and authority, such powers and authority to do as per our bidding/ wishes. Thus,
the influence of TV makes us do such things as getting jobs without merit or
competence required (for those jobs). As long as one is getting a great salary
– despite not competent in his job and doing only little work – car, house,
leading an extravagant/ luxury life, lose his money in gambling and amusement,
he is happy.
Islam has taught us to live life in such a way that
there is dialogue between us and especially between us and our family so that
each of us may understand one another. Each must command good and forbid evil
so that love and affection prevail amidst us. As for TV, it removes that
dialogue and mutual advice as well as love and affection also disappear. People
are now so concentrated in his favourite programmes that they do not find the
time to talk with their peers. Parents do not have time to question their
children about their studies in school or Madrassa,
or even about their friends and time to come back home etc. The children/
youths also do not find time to seek the advices of their parents and benefit
from their experiences. The sitting together in a congregation, as a family to
eat has disappeared due to TV. This is fact is another way how love and
affection disappears from houses. No one understands the character or problems
of the others!
Thus to close this subject (for today for this subject
is really vast and cannot be completed in only three sermons), a Muslim is
supposed to be an intelligent person; he needs to know how to distinguish
between what will benefit him and what will harm him. A Muslim does not follow
the trends whereby these can bring about his own destruction, be it in this
world and the hereafter. Has the time not come for us to wake up from our long
sleep and stop taking life as a plaything?
I pray that these realities penetrate our heart and
compel us to react so that we may be able to protect our future and the future
of our children, by combatting that big Satan which has invaded our homes. The
parents especially need to ponder over this: Do you really want to become a
means for the guidance of your children or a means for their deviation? Let’s
pray to Allah to safeguard us against all satanic effects. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
----Extracts from the Friday Sermon of 18 December 2015 ~(06 Rabi’ul Awwal 1437 Hijri) delivered by Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.