Praise be to
Allaah.
Firstly:
The website Facebook was founded by Mark
Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard University in America, at the beginning of
2004 CE. Use of the website was initially limited to students of the
University, then the network expanded to include other universities in Boston,
and eventually to include the entire world at the end of 2006 CE.
The aim behind the founding of this site was
to enable people to get to know one another and build social relationships.
This site is regarded as the most important virtual community on the Internet.
The number of users runs to tens of millions and is constantly increasing. It
is widely accepted in the Arab and Muslim world and is available in more than
forty languages; the people in charge of the site are planning to add further
languages.
Secondly:
The world of Facebook is a world in which one
may communicate in writing or verbally (chat), in which there are both major
sins and benefits for people, but this site is distinct from others in many
ways, including the following:
1. Availability of detailed personal information
about users, which has already resulted in negative consequences such as:
(a) It has led to reviving
old relationships between lovers which led to a resumption of those (illicit)
relationships, leading to betrayal and divorce.
A team from the National Centre for Social and
Criminal Research in Egypt prepared a study on Facebook which took several
weeks, from which it noted serious consequences (of using this site). Among
other things it noted: “many visitors to the website succeeded in finding their
first love and former relationships, and rebuilt destructive relationships
outside the family, which is threatening marriages and Muslim family
life.”
(b) Some foreign spy services
have recruited some Facebook members by looking at their details, their
economic situation and standard of living, and they have exploited that to
recruit them to spy for them.
A foreign newspaper discovered a Jewish spy
network that was working to recruit Arab and Muslim youth to spy for them.
On the Muheet website – dated 25 Jumaada
al-Oola 1431 AH – they quoted from a French newspaper the story of Jewish
exploitation of Facebook to recruit agents:
Gerald Nero, a professor in the college of
psychology in the French University of Provence and the author of the book
Dangers of the Internet, says: “This network was discovered in May 2001 CE; it
was a group of networks run by Israeli specialists in psychology who were
recruited to work on youth in the Third World, especially those living in Arab
states that are hostile towards Israel, as well as South America.”
In fact, this recruitment began before the
founding of the Facebook site, which offered more opportunities for this
network – and others like it – to find youth who were suitable for recruitment
by looking at their details and by chatting with them.
(c) Hacking into bank
accounts and stealing the identity of a Facebook member by looking at his
personal information.
2. The spread of this website has made it a
global chat site which brings together people from all parts of the world; they
made matters worse by giving the users of their site a program that makes it
easy for these conversations to take place without entering the site, such as
that which was produced by Hotmail and Messenger. Chatting results in negative
consequences that are known to everyone who has any experience of that on the
Internet, especially if the program takes it possible for people to see one
another as well as writing. Among the negative consequences of chat and sinful
relationships are the following:
(a) Wasting valuable time
in trivial talk and getting to know people.
The wise Muslim should realise that his
lifespan is limited and that he will not live on earth for ever; he is going to
meet his Lord, may He be exalted, Who will ask him about his youth and how he
spent it, and about his life and what he did. So let the wise one look at the
early generations of this ummah and its scholars, and think about how they
thought about time and their lifespan.
Ibn ‘Aqeel al-Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on
him) said of himself: It is not permissible for me to waste an hour of my life.
When I stop discussing issues of knowledge and debating them (with others) and
when I stop reading in a book, I would start pondering and thinking when I am
resting and lying down, and before I get up, I will have already an idea that I
should write down and I am very keen to increase my knowledge now I am in my
eighties and more keen than when I was twenty years old.
Quoted from him by Ibn al-Jawzi in
al-Muntazam, 9/214
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him)
said: A man’s time is in fact his life, and his eternal life, whether it is
eternal bliss or eternal suffering, is based on how he spent it. Time is
passing quickly; whatever time he spends for the sake of Allah and by the help
of Allah, this is his true life; any other time is not counted as part of his
life, even if he spends it doing what animals do. So if he spends his time in
heedlessness, idle entertainment and false wishes, and the best of what he
spends his time in is sleep and idleness, then his death is better than his
life.
Al-Jawaab al-Kaafi, p. 109
(b) Establishing sinful
relationships between men and women, which may cause the destruction of a
stable family.
In a study by the National Centre – mentioned
above – it says:
One in every five cases of divorce came about
when one partner discovered that the other was having a relationship through
the Internet, and through Facebook.
We have discussed the ruling on correspondence
and chat between the sexes in a number of fatwas. Please see the answer to
questions no. 78375, 34841, 23349,20949, 26890 and 82702.
Thirdly:
It cannot be denied that there are a number of
benefits in this site, which are attained by wise people who are keen to guide
people to goodness. These people have done well by using modern means of
communication – such as the Internet, mobile phones and satellite channels;
they have entered the world of those people to serve their religion and call
people to their Lord, especially activities that are done collectively, because
that makes it less likely that the one who does this type of work collectively
will fall into the temptations of that world. Among the benefits of that
website are the following:
1. Personal
pages for some shaykhs and daa‘iyahs, in which they offer advice to the people
and answer their questions, especially those who have groups. The leader or
founder of the group benefits when a number of people who are part of that
group get together and send out messages to the group, open up topics for
discussion, and post a large number of high-quality video clips.
2. Global
campaigns to alert users of that site to global Islamic events that are
suppressed and ignored by the kaafir media, or to support oppressed peoples, or
to close a website or personal page.
3. Spreading
useful and beneficial books, articles and websites among visitors to that site.
4.
Communication between friends and relatives, especially those who live far
apart from one another. Communication has a good impact in maintaining bonds
and encouraging one another to remain steadfast in Islam.
Fourthly:
With regard to the shar‘i ruling on signing up
for Facebook, it depends on the intention of the one who wants to sign up. If
he is a man of knowledge or a seeker thereof or a member of a da‘wah group,
then it is permissible and good, because of the benefits they have to offer to
the people. But for the one who joins it for evil purposes or for whom there is
no guarantee that he will be safe from temptation and may easily slip,
especially young men and women, it is not permissible for them to sign up for
it.
The one who knows the reality of our times and
the temptation and turmoil that is knocking at the door of all of our houses
will not object to any faqeeh or mufti who disallows anything in which there is
harm, whether it is totally or mostly harmful. The fact that there is some
small benefit does not encourage one to say that it is permissible because
there is still fear for the one who embarks upon it. If what is good and
beneficial is great and the evil and harm is small or non-existent, then we may
with a clear conscience say that it is permissible. Hence some of our scholars
were very strict about satellite channels at first, because of the pure harm
and evil in them; but when there started to be some great good in them and
completely Islamic channels were founded, and receivers that only accepted
those channels became available, the view that they are permissible became
valid; indeed we see that many scholars have contributed to these channels and
have useful programs on them.
The one who cannot control himself on Facebook
and similar sites should refrain from joining them. Joining them is permissible
for the one who acts in accordance with the shar‘i guidelines by controlling
himself and not following his whims and desires, and who joins them so
that he can benefit himself and others others.
We ask Allah to keep us safe from temptations
both visible and invisible, for He is the Guide to the straight path.
And Allah knows best.
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