Watching films of various kinds

Question

(1) What is the ruling on watching the film Khana-e Khuda (“The House of God”)? (2) What is the ruling on watching the films of the present age? (3) What is the ruling on watching war films? (4) What is the ruling on watching a preaching film (from which some reform results)?

Answer

(1, 2, 3, 4) Dancing and singing are impermissible in the Shariʿa; watching and listening to them is also impermissible, even if it is through a film. Turning a religious act of worship into a spectacle is even more dangerous. Film is in itself an independent idle spectacle; if more idleness is mixed into it, it will become a collection of idle things (laghwiyyat).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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