TURNING DA'WAH TO COMEDY AND SKITS
By
Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori
There should be a difference between comedy and Islamic propagation. There must be limit to the kind of jokes anyone who ascribes to knowledge will be cracking in order not to derail. In fact, a scholar or student of knowledge must watch what he or she writes or posts on his or her private social media handles, otherwise his or her da'wah will not be taken seriously.
Islamic knowledge and scholarship is a serious business to seek goodness of this life and hereafter. Preachers should be different from entertainers and skit makers in many ways. Even though some expressions may be clearly funny and people may not help but laugh, a scholar or students of knowledge need to be cautious not to intend to always say or post things that would make his audience laugh in a way that will distract them from the message being passed. Scholars are not entertainers and entertainers are not scholars. And as Muslims, we must be careful of comedy skits because the laughter that goes with them can kill the heart slowly if proper care is not taken.
Sometimes we get carried away and forget the purpose of our creation. This is from the antics of shaytān. We need to be very these days with the use of social media. In a hadith, Anas Ibn Malik رضي الله عنه narrated:
خطبنا رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم خطبة ما سمعت مثلها قط، فقال: "لو تعلمون ما أعلم لضحكتم قليلاً ولبكيتم كثيراً" فغطى أصحاب رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم وجوههم، ولهم خنين. ((متفق عليه))
Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم delivered a sermon to us the like of which I had never heard from him before. He said, "If you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much". Thereupon those present covered their faces and began sobbing. In another narration, it was said that his Companions experienced such suffering on that day that had no equal. They covered their faces and began to weep. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Those who turn lectures of scholars to comedy and skit should fear Allāh, lest they fall into the evil of istihzā' (mocking the signs of the religion of Allāh) which is one of the the nullifiers of faith. It is also evil to mock a scholar or student of knowledge due to divergence of opinion on an issue. Doing that is like mocking the Deen because the scholars of Sunnah are from the signs of Allāh. They are those Allāh is using to preserve His Deen on earth. Their 'irdh (reputation) is attached to the Deen. It is unethical for any scholar to mock or ridicule another scholar even when he has clearly erred.
The author of Nawāqidul Islām, Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdulwahab An-najdi رحمه الله said:
من استهزئ شيء من دين الرسول صلى االله عليه وسلم ، أو ثوابه أو عقابه ، كفر
Whoever ridicules, scorns or makes mockery of anything of the religion of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ، its reward or Its punishment, has committed kufr (disbelief).
Allah says:
وَلَىِٕن سَأَلۡتَهُمۡ لَیَقُولُنَّ إِنَّمَا كُنَّا نَخُوضُ وَنَلۡعَبُۚ قُلۡ أَبِٱللَّهِ وَءَایَـٰتِهِۦ وَرَسُولِهِۦ كُنتُمۡ تَسۡتَهۡزِءُونَ ; لَا تَعۡتَذِرُوا۟ قَدۡ كَفَرۡتُم بَعۡدَ إِیمَـٰنِكُمۡۚ إِن نَّعۡفُ عَن طَاۤىِٕفَةࣲ مِّنكُمۡ نُعَذِّبۡ طَاۤىِٕفَةَۢ بِأَنَّهُمۡ كَانُوا۟ مُجۡرِمِینَ
And if you ask them, they will surely say, We were only conversing and playing. Say, Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking? Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were criminals.(QS. At-Tawba: Verse 65-66)
COMING SOON!!!
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