Table Of ContentTELEVISION & THE INTERNET:
THE PRIME
SUSPECTS
Wahid Abdussalam Bali
Translated by:
Dr. Chafik Abdelghani
Published by
Al-Firdous – London
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.................................................................................5
Introduction.............................................................................................6
The Impact of Media on Our Lives........................................................7
How does the Media control People’s minds?.......................................7
Cultural Control......................................................................................7
Economic Control ................................................................................12
The Principles of Operation in the World Media.................................13
The New Widespread Threat of the Media...........................................18
Media Freedom and the Culture of Mother and Child ........................23
The Concepts of Media Freedom and Their Implementation ..............23
Child Culture ........................................................................................27
Women’s Culture .................................................................................33
The Prime Suspect ...............................................................................37
Our Children and Television.................................................................41
The impact of television on our children..............................................41
Television and Violence.......................................................................44
Television and the Spread of Immorality ............................................53
Examples of the Effect of Television on Youngsters...........................57
Television and Crime ...........................................................................59
Press Reports ........................................................................................61
Television and Family Break-up ..........................................................65
Television and the Loss of Moral Values ............................................67
Television and the Annihilation of Traditional Values .......................71
Television and Academic Performance ...............................................73
Television and Health Hazards ............................................................79
Television and Its Further Effects on Health .......................................81
Television detrimental to the Economy ...............................................83
Television extinguishes the Creed of Tawhid within Children ...........85
The Effect of Cartoons on the Development of Muslim Children’s
Personality ...........................................................................................91
The Effect of watching Television on the Future of Children .............93
Television stops Protectiveness............................................................97
Television weakens the Creed of Al-Walaa (loyalty) and Al-Baraa
(disloyalty)..........................................................................................105
The Television distorts Islamic History .............................................107
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The Television is behind Parents’ Negligence of Their Children .....109
Television and Marital Relationships ................................................111
Television and Wealth .......................................................................113
Television and Smoking ....................................................................115
Television and Nationalism ...............................................................116
Television and Prayers .......................................................................119
Television Encourages the use of vernacular.....................................120
Television and the Acquisition of Sins...............................................121
Television according to Islamic Law .................................................126
Watching Soccer on Television..........................................................128
Is it Permissible to have a Television for the Purpose of Watching
Beneficial Programs Only? ................................................................130
Is it Permissible to Own a Television so that the Children do not try to
watch it elsewhere?.............................................................................132
Is Selling Televisions Permissible? ...................................................133
What is the Solution to the Problem of Television? ..........................135
Alternatives to Television ..................................................................139
Islamic Library for Adults..................................................................139
Islamic Library for Children ..............................................................146
APPENDICES
The International Islamic Programs Company offers a number
of Islamic programs:...........................................................................153
The Internet
The Advantages of the Internet ..........................................................165
The Dangers of the Internet ...............................................................166
How to Protect Ourselves from the Dangers of the Internet .............174
The Makkan Legal Opinion on the Internet ......................................177
The Views of Makkan and Al-Azhar Scholars on
Watching Television ..........................................................................179
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Acknowledgements
To my father, who instilled in me a passion for
seeking knowledge. May Allah accompany his
solitude and alleviate his torment in the grave;
To my mother for all her patience. May Allah
cure her of her illness;
To my wife, Maria Erroujdani, for her endless
support throughout the production of this work;
To my handsome twin sons, Yasser (Assoula) and
Youssef (Ana Habboub dyal Baba), and to my
beautiful princess, Wisal (Ana Casawiyya).
Beautiful memories…that is all I have left of you.
I wish that one day you could look through this
work and discover your names. You have been
snatched from me. You cannot imagine how
much I miss you, children…You are always on
my mind, you are always in my heart.
June 2009,
Ifrane (Morocco)
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Introduction
All praise is due to Allah , we praise Him, seek His
Support, Guidance and Forgiveness. We seek refuge in
Allah from the evil of ourselves and from our misdeeds.
He whom Allah guides would never be misguided by
anyone, and he whom Allah misguides would never be
guided by anyone. I testify that there is no God but Allah ,
Alone, having no partner, and I testify that Muhammad is
His Servant and Messenger.
The present work is a series of lectures delivered to a group
of young Muslims who decided to compile them and make
them accessible as lectures and sermons. May Allah add
it to my account of good deeds.
Wahid Bali
11 Rabi’ I, 1419, Manshaat Abbas.
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The Impact of Media
on Our Lives
How does the media control people’s minds?1
First: Cultural Control
T
his occurs when the world media companies broadcast
the values and traditions of the countries to which they
owe allegiance to other countries, thus establishing a
medium of communication (language) through which the
strongest country controls the weakest. In this way, the
influential American media culture becomes –in Schiller’s
words- “the appropriate medium of the world trade system”.2
Schiller believes that the media industry in the United States
is closely linked to the American industrial and military
alliance. During Desert Storm (of the first Gulf War), a new
media monopoly emerged and could be tangibly felt in the
1 See Al-I‘lam al-Alami: Muassasatuh, Tariqatu Amalih wa Qadayah by
Dr. Faris Ashti, Dar Amwaj for publishing and distribution, Beirut, 1996.
2 Shiller, Mass Communication and American Empire, p.80.
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way news of the events in the battlefield was handled. For
instance, CNN was the only satellite television channel that
was broadcasting the news, relying –according to Schiller-
solely on the Pentagon and the White House as its sources.
Therefore, there was a bias in terms of trying to understand
events from just one American source about what was
actually taking place in the Gulf.
Schiller further indicates that the American satellite
programs strive to weaken the political interest and impose
American culture on developing countries, thus creating
capitalist values that are incompatible with practical
development. In his Mass Communication and American
Empire, Schiller says: “Every new electronic development
leads to the expansion of American power, and the failure to
separate trade from the military in this process leads to
further expansion and control.”1
Jeremy Tunstull has criticized Schiller’s stance, of ‘a return
to cultures which may be original but dead,’ as unrealistic.
He says that the Western media may lead towards the
preservation of the status-quo in developing countries,
because social classes that are relatively financially
comfortable are subjected to viewing their programs.
According to Tunstull, the American and British media are
linked by imperialism. Yet British exports to developing
1 Shiller, Mass Communication and American Empire, p.30.
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countries preceded the American economic power overseas;
the ‘phenomenon’ of multinational companies. This is why,
according to Tunstull, Schiller attributes the evil that is
enveloping the world to television.1
Dallas Smythe, an anti-capitalist, sees the media as a
systematic and concerted invention by capitalism designed
for the mass marketing of services and consumer goods.
Smythe likens the importance of the role of the media, in
reaching potential viewing consumers, to that of its role of
stressing the continuation of capitalist relationships. Smythe
believes that the media plays a pivotal role in the
establishment of multinational corporations. Subtly,
multinationals came to replace the old version of empires,
which dominated developing countries in the past, with what
is known today as ‘cultural imperialism.’ Smythe further
points out that the American empire is unique compared to
its predecessor; for its power and influence lie in its cultural
control rather than in its political or military control.2
1 Jeremy Tunstall, The Media are American (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1996, p.63)
2 Dallas Smythe, Agenda Setting: The Role of Mass. Media in Defining
Development, Journal of the Center for Advanced TV Studies 3, No.2,
1975, p36.
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