Facebook and Gaming for Kids and Adults
Question:
- I know it sounds a little weird but when I listen that time wasting is not allowed in Islam I start to think about this. Children are a little immature and they use facebook whole day. Should a child be allowed to do that?
- My brother (elder than me) is very much fond of video games even his aim is to making video games when he will grow elder. I really think that these games are not permissible but he never agreed . Can you please tell any hadith related to that topic so I can tell my brother?
Answer:
Your two questions were related to each other so I merged them. I will answer your first question first, and from there I will proceed to your second question.
I. Facebook for kids
One of the mistakes that often us, parents, commit is that we expend too much from religion to control something that can be controlled, maybe even better, without spending from religion. In this way we actually end up damaging the perception of religion in the mind of the child and we often do not manage to control him either.
Let me explain this using your question, that in principle is a very common question among Muslim parents. You write that time wasting is not allowed in Islam and question whether children should be allowed to spend their time on things like facebook.
Typically what we do is that we make these arguments for the child:
What do you think is the typical consequence of the above reasoning? As I see it, in many cases this results in the following:
The kid listens to his parents because he does not have any other choices. Then as soon as he does have choice (i.e. in an elder age), he practically abandons Islam and tries to make up for what he thinks he has missed, but this time at the age of around 18, 19, and God knows what that might be!
The following is the mistakes that I see inbuilt in the above wording of the question, and rest assured this is a common mistake:
II. Working in Gaming Industry for Adults
I think you should now anticipate what my answer to your question about your brother and gaming will be. However for this specific situation I need to make another point as well:
You asked me to provide you with some hadith so that you can advise your brother against having job in gaming industry. I am sorry that I cannot do this. First, I do not think this approach of finding some hadith to back up our arguments is a good one. People often end up ignoring every other information from the primary sources of understanding Islam and also any hadith that may suggest different, then just stick to one or two hadith as a tool to back up their views. This is not a correct way of using hadith.
Second, I am not sure on what basis you consider working in the gaming industry to be disallowed in Islam. Gaming industry is now one of the well established industries. It is obvious that like other industries it also contributes in employing people. If your brother wants to work in this industry then I am not sure on what basis we can say it is not permissible in Islam. Gaming is for the purpose of entertainment and Islam is not against entertainment. In fact any ideology that is against entertainment will be against the very nature of human being and therefore cannot be a true religion.
Instead of advising your elder brother that working in gaming industry is not permissible in Islam, you can suggest to him to bring something new in gaming industry, as a healthy human being. This can be making games that are not based on violence and indecent images, and are directly or indirectly educational and beneficial while being entertaining as well. Being educational does not mean here to be necessarily educational about religion. For instance, I always thought why gaming cannot be used to make people familiar with other cultures. Imagine a game that takes the gamer to an adventures travel around the world in 80 days, where the gamer needs to fully understand different cultures as well as managing his money and schedule wisely, in order to proceed and collect points. How educational and fun that will be!
So basically my suggestion is, let us not boldly categorise newly emerging tools in our life, as haram and halal, when there are no categorical evidences about them in the primary sources. Instead, we should try to see how a good and healthy human being (or you may call it, Muslim) would use those tools.
You may find some of the audio presentations on Parenting in this website to be of interest. You may find them here.
Please let me know if anything needs further clarification.
--------
November 2015
- I know it sounds a little weird but when I listen that time wasting is not allowed in Islam I start to think about this. Children are a little immature and they use facebook whole day. Should a child be allowed to do that?
- My brother (elder than me) is very much fond of video games even his aim is to making video games when he will grow elder. I really think that these games are not permissible but he never agreed . Can you please tell any hadith related to that topic so I can tell my brother?
Answer:
Your two questions were related to each other so I merged them. I will answer your first question first, and from there I will proceed to your second question.
I. Facebook for kids
One of the mistakes that often us, parents, commit is that we expend too much from religion to control something that can be controlled, maybe even better, without spending from religion. In this way we actually end up damaging the perception of religion in the mind of the child and we often do not manage to control him either.
Let me explain this using your question, that in principle is a very common question among Muslim parents. You write that time wasting is not allowed in Islam and question whether children should be allowed to spend their time on things like facebook.
Typically what we do is that we make these arguments for the child:
- Islam does not allow wasting time
- Therefore you are not allowed to spend too much time gaming and on internet
- Instead you need to spend this time reading the Qur’an and learning Islam
What do you think is the typical consequence of the above reasoning? As I see it, in many cases this results in the following:
The kid listens to his parents because he does not have any other choices. Then as soon as he does have choice (i.e. in an elder age), he practically abandons Islam and tries to make up for what he thinks he has missed, but this time at the age of around 18, 19, and God knows what that might be!
The following is the mistakes that I see inbuilt in the above wording of the question, and rest assured this is a common mistake:
- I am certain that time wasting is not good and I am sure that it is not inline with Islamic teachings. I can say that a good Muslim does not waste his time. However I do not go as far to say it is not allowed in Islam. We cannot announce something disallowed by religion without categorical directive from the Qur’an or Established Sunnah.
- We do not need to spend from Islam to argue with a kid that time wasting is not good. I assure you, your concern is equally shared with many non-Muslim parents. So why putting Islam in the position of blame, in the mind of child, when making such argument? What Islam says is what intellect and the human's pure nature says. Therefore why not reasoning with the child beyond religion and using common sense? Internet is full of information about the damages of too much spending time on internet for adults and children, why not using that as evidence?
- Explain for your kid with the use of evidences that too much gaming and social media is not good.
- In your explanation make two things clear, one that as a parent, you too are struggling with making the best of your time, two, that you do appreciate that gaming and social media are not all bad, they do have benefits, but the issue is the damage that is caused by extensive and uncontrolled use of them.
- Provide your kid with alternative means of entertainment that are healthier.
- Make it clear that you are not asking them to totally abandon these things, but to have them within control.
- Discuss and agree with your kid to have certain hours per day/week, as the maximum he/she would spend on gaming and social media. Then help him/her to observe this screen time, preferably with him/herself being in charge.
II. Working in Gaming Industry for Adults
I think you should now anticipate what my answer to your question about your brother and gaming will be. However for this specific situation I need to make another point as well:
You asked me to provide you with some hadith so that you can advise your brother against having job in gaming industry. I am sorry that I cannot do this. First, I do not think this approach of finding some hadith to back up our arguments is a good one. People often end up ignoring every other information from the primary sources of understanding Islam and also any hadith that may suggest different, then just stick to one or two hadith as a tool to back up their views. This is not a correct way of using hadith.
Second, I am not sure on what basis you consider working in the gaming industry to be disallowed in Islam. Gaming industry is now one of the well established industries. It is obvious that like other industries it also contributes in employing people. If your brother wants to work in this industry then I am not sure on what basis we can say it is not permissible in Islam. Gaming is for the purpose of entertainment and Islam is not against entertainment. In fact any ideology that is against entertainment will be against the very nature of human being and therefore cannot be a true religion.
Instead of advising your elder brother that working in gaming industry is not permissible in Islam, you can suggest to him to bring something new in gaming industry, as a healthy human being. This can be making games that are not based on violence and indecent images, and are directly or indirectly educational and beneficial while being entertaining as well. Being educational does not mean here to be necessarily educational about religion. For instance, I always thought why gaming cannot be used to make people familiar with other cultures. Imagine a game that takes the gamer to an adventures travel around the world in 80 days, where the gamer needs to fully understand different cultures as well as managing his money and schedule wisely, in order to proceed and collect points. How educational and fun that will be!
So basically my suggestion is, let us not boldly categorise newly emerging tools in our life, as haram and halal, when there are no categorical evidences about them in the primary sources. Instead, we should try to see how a good and healthy human being (or you may call it, Muslim) would use those tools.
You may find some of the audio presentations on Parenting in this website to be of interest. You may find them here.
Please let me know if anything needs further clarification.
--------
November 2015
