The purpose of this article is to make us aware of the dangers that lurk behind the use of the Internet [especially for children] in the home. As opposed to sticking our heads in the ground like ostriches, it is time we had an honest assessment of the facts and figures associated with the use of the Internet and it being a tool for Shaytan.
DANGERS OF THE INTERNET; EASY OF ACCESS TO PORNOGRAPHY
With the help of a few clicks, pornographic content spreads rampantly across the Internet, carried over an innumerable number of web sites, through explicit images in spam, and through advertisements on search engines. Various statistics show children increasingly being exposed to pornographic content. The content can involve despicable and disgusting acts, sometimes even involving children. The annual revenue of the worldwide pornographic industry is over £60 billion – that’s more than even Hollywood. According to a study by the London School of Economics, 6 out of every 10 children in the UK [1] were regularly being exposed to pornography – that is the majority of children.
MAJORITY OF CHILDREN
Approximately 90 percent of children aged 8 to 16 have seen pornography on the Internet. There are many ways in which children are being exposed to this evil material. Anybody with an email account would know that they are constantly bombarded by emails explicitly advertising pornography or indirectly [by showing one thing and upon clicking re-directing to an explicit site].
There are many game sites on the internet which allow harmless games to be played but advertise sexually explicit websites. According to the TopTenReviews report, at least 26 names of cartoon characters were linked to porn sites, thus exposing children to adult content on the Web.
UNCOMFORTABLE STATISTICS [2]
[1] – 89 percent of youth in chat rooms receive sexual solicitations.
[2] – 73 percent of those exposures happened while searching or surfing the Internet and 27 percent while opening e-mail or clicking on links in e-mails or instant messages.
[3] – 67 percent happened while using the Internet at home; 15 percent at school; 3 percent in libraries; and the rest at other homes, such as friends’, and elsewhere.
[4] – most of the images were of nudity, 32 percent showed a sexual act,
[5] – web searches and search engines were the most common route to exposures (47 percent).
[6] – in 26 percent of the surfing incidents, the children surveyed were “mousetrapped” into another dirty site while trying to get out of the one they were in.
INTERNET – TOOL OF THE SHAYTAN
The Shaytan, who is our open and clear enemy, is using the Internet to corrupt the Believers and their children’s morals, Imaan [faith] and dignity. Allah [swt] says in the Qur’an,
‘Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to commit Fahishah’
al-Baqarah 2:268
WHAT DOES ‘FAHISHAH’ MEAN?
Linguistically ‘Fahishah’ means, ‘an excess or enormity, a thing excessively and enormously foul, evil, immoral, lewd, obscene, a sin or a crime which is excessively foul; adultery or fornication.’
One finds that the Internet is the marketplace for people indulging in ‘Fahishah’ and all the steps that lead to it – accumulating major sins in the sight of their Creator, Allah [swt]. The Shaytan has openly declared war on the children of Adam [due to his jealousy] and his primary aim is to drag as many of them as possible to the Hell-Fire with him – May Allah [swt] protect us and our children [ameen]
PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Repeated and long-term exposure of pornographic material is severely traumatic and damaging to children’s Imaan [faith] and leads to all sorts of psychological and behavioural problems. One must realise that you cannot delete from the memories of children what they have seen of these images or videos. These ‘evil seeds’ are planted into the hearts of the innocent resulting in producing adults who are sexually perverted, promiscuous, immoral, psychologically inept and corrupt Muslims who continue to battle with their sins.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
Parents must take active responsibility to ensure that their homes are safe from the influence of Fahishah – especially from the Internet. We recommend the following:
[1] – Do not have access to the internet anywhere in the house except in the main living/dining room with the computer monitor facing outwards – i.e., towards the rest of the room
[2] – Children do not need to have email addresses or accounts on Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Yahoo etc. Supervise access to YouTube.
[3] – do not allow them to use chatrooms
[4] – Only allow access to the internet while they are being supervised [or in groups of responsible children]
[5] – Setup bookmarks for your children and only allow them to visit these ‘approved’ sites – do not give them the opportunity to type in the address box
[6] – Putting a physical block on adult sites – this can be done by adjusting the settings in your internet explorer
[7] – Install internet protection software for children – available free online
[8] – Ensure that the history of the pages visited cannot be deleted.
WARNING
Please do not turn a blind eye to dangers that the Internet poses to our future – our children. Doing so would be tantamount to incompetence and irresponsibility on the part of the Parents. Is it logical that we would ever hand our children a 500 page encyclopaedia, that has 50 pages of explicit material and then expect our children never to stumble upon them? The astute parent would remove the 50 pages and then hand the book over or sit by their side and make sure nothing other than beneficial information is looked at.
We ask Allah [swt], the Lord of the Worlds, to protect us and our children from the fahishah [immorality] and fitnah [turmoil] that surrounds us and protects us all from the traps of the Shaytan [ameen]
If internet is a tool of the shaytan, we cannot use internet because every shaytan' tool is haram.
Internet is not shaytan's tool. Using internet is 'mubah', or allowed but unrewarded. However, shaytans are waiting for us in many websites. So, always watch where you go in internet, and don't forget to say "Basmallah" when we start browsing in internet.
Thanks alot for this article.Really.JazakAllah.
Also, I would like to say that install some new generation browsers which allow your child to only visit some selected websites.
I hate people who put these types of things on net(I hate them really)
If internet is a tool of the shaytan, we cannot use internet because every shaytan' tool is haram.
Internet is not shaytan's tool. Using internet is 'mubah', or allowed but unrewarded. However, shaytans are waiting for us in many websites. So, always watch where you go in internet, and don't forget to say "Basmallah" when we start browsing in internet.
what brother bukhari has said is correct...internet is a tool of shaitan just like how women are the hook of shaitan...dun advice ppl unnesessarily? just take the info and leave...
what brother bukhari has said is correct...internet is a tool of shaitan just like how women are the hook of shaitan...dun advice ppl unnesessarily? just take the info and leave...
He didn't say anything wrong he rather made a good note. Likewise TV can be used for both good and bad purposes.
Good post, mashaAllah... JazakalLah for sharing.
Last edited by Asiyah3; 02-20-2010 at 05:46 PM.
Those who believe and obscure not their belief by wrongdoing, theirs is safety; and they are rightly guided. (6:86)
Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. (10:62)
what brother bukhari has said is correct...internet is a tool of shaitan just like how women are the hook of shaitan...dun advice ppl unnesessarily? just take the info and leave...
Internet is like a road with many buildings on both sides. In one side is full of prostitution houses, bars, casinos, etc. But in another sides is full of masjids, da'wah houses, madrasah, schools, etc.
Brother bukhari was not incorrect. However, ho looked only to the bad side, a side that full of shaytan. We can walk on this 'road', but we must walk carefully and always look at only to the good side. From my experience, when we walk on this 'road', shaytan always call us "come to me, come to me". That's why I said "say Basmallah before we use internet". It for help us to say no to the shaytan.
Brothers and sisters especially those who have small children i have a solution in the form of software that blocks out 99.99% percent of pornography and other disgusting stuff
Blue Coat® K9 Web Protection is a content filtering solution for your home computer. Its job is to provide you with a family-safe Internet experience, where YOU control the Internet content that enters your home. K9 Web Protection implements the same enterprise-class Web filtering technology used by Blue Coat's Fortune 500 customers around the world, wrapped in simple, friendly, and reliable software for your Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista computer.
K9 Web Protection Administration
[view larger screenshot]
Blue Coat's unique Web filtering technology divides Internet content into 60 distinct categories. These categories are stored in the master Blue Coat database, through which we maintain and update more than 15 million ratings of websites and domains. A Web site will fall into one or more of these categories, based on the content of the site. To meet your particular needs and preferences, you can configure the software to block or allow specific categories.
K9 Web Protection Administration
[view larger screenshot]
K9 Web Protection is different from other solutions for the home in several important respects:
* Service-based filtering – Blue Coat's filtering database operates as a service. It receives and rates over 80 million requests every day, making it the most accurate content filtering database available. This accuracy is important in protecting your family, given the Internet's rapid changes and growth. Plus, there is no database to download. K9 Web Protection won't clog your Internet connection, get "stale" or out of date, or slow down your computer like other products do.
* Dynamic Real-Time Rating™ (DRTR) – Blue Coat's patent-pending DRTR technology is a very powerful element in our solution, and is vastly different from the old-fashioned "key word filtering" that is so frustrating to users. Using a method of statistical analysis and artificial intelligence to rate new or previously unrated Web pages, DRTR can determine the category of a URL on the fly, without human intervention. However, DRTR only renders a rating when it is confident that it has reached an accurate conclusion.
We've focused DRTR on recognizing the kinds of categories most likely to be blocked. In particular, DRTR is highly accurate in blocking pornography and other "adult content" sites. This focus for DRTR is particularly important because these kinds of sites are constantly – daily and even hourly – popping up on the Internet, and no static database can keep up.
* Automatic updating – Automatic updates of the K9 Web Protection application ensure that you are always protected by the latest features. For example, in Spring of 2005, we added two new categories to our solution: Spyware/Malware Sources, and Spyware Effects/Privacy Concerns. By electing to block sites in these categories, your computer's rate of infection by unwanted software can be reduced dramatically. We have a variety of new features planned, and your K9 installation will automatically receive updates that include them.
* Efficient caching – K9 Web Protection is a product from Blue Coat. Blue Coat is recognized world-wide as expert in high-performance caching and secure proxy technology. We take advantage of that expertise in K9, so your Internet experience is as fast, reliable, and safe as we can make it.
Unlike other filtering solutions, K9 Web Protection ensures the highest level of protection by building the most relevant ratings database available. Its effective coverage reaches more than one billion Web pages. With K9 Web Protection, you finally have a chance to build a family-safe Internet experience for your home, simply and easily.
Last edited by Cabdullahi; 02-21-2010 at 02:23 PM.
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