Should Muslims be using facebook?

[Raphael]

i don't use fb nor will i ever the sisters on it make me +o( showing there big faces to non mahrams as the sister hayfa said its full of fitnah

Sister, jazakAllah for your input, and mashAllah it makes me very happy that you are not on it.

Having said that, I would exercise caution when saying that your sisters in Islam make you sick, regardless of their actions. Afterall no one knows who is greater in the eyes of Allah (swt).

O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.

Surat Al-Ĥujurāt 49:11
Quran


This is advise for myself first and foremost. I am the most in need of Mercy.


:embarrass

 

[cat eyes]

Sister, jazakAllah for your input, and mashAllah it makes me very happy that you are not on it.

Having said that, I would exercise caution when saying that your sisters in Islam make you sick, regardless of their actions. Afterall no one knows who is greater in the eyes of Allah (swt).

O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.

Surat Al-Ĥujurāt 49:11
Quran


This is advise for myself first and foremost. I am the most in need of Mercy.


:embarrass

thanks for that reminder sis it just dose turn my stomach a tiny bit you know that sickening feeling that you get when you see your sister doing something you don't like

 

[nocturnal]

I think it depends how you use it. There is fitna, but equally, there's alot of potential to do good if you use it in a sensible and responsible manner.

 

[Beardo]

Yeah, to be honest... Not just FaceBook, but the Internet in general holds more harm than good in my opinion.

Hypocritical for me to say, considering my life is on the Internet and I recently have developed a FaceBook account, but FaceBook is not the place to be! Don't even GO on that site! It's hypnotizing.

 

[Ansariyah]

I had people introduce themselves to me, n ask me straight away ..'u on facebook'? Its like almost 'how ru'..''hi..u on facebook'' lol.

I know even people who sit on 2 computers n talk on face'book..if thats not madness dont know wat it iz.

I dont have time for facebook.

 

[umm junaid]

i deleted my FB because of the fitanah it distracts u from allsorts of stuff, and alhamdulillah i feel so much better without facebook.
btw it's also a waste of time for people mostly muslims who are actually addicted to facebook.

 

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

Anything u get addicted to is a distraction, so yea. If your life is fb, then its a prob

 

[Raphael]

Facebook to the vast majority of Muslim youth is like Backstreet Boys to an asian rudeboy...their public contempt is only a mask for their private addiction!

The sister was brave to defend its use, considering there are a large number of people who use it silently.

The problem comes down to herd behaviour. "But all my friends and family are on it".

Without loss of generality, I think most Muslims fall into four recognisable categories:

1. "The Jahil" This delightful flavour typically have Arabic sounding names, and unfortunately there ends their visible connection to Islam.

2. "Coming of Age" The flavour is a broad spectrum of Muslims that recognise and embrace their identity, however range anywhere from Ramadan Muslims, who switch from pious to poisonous on the first sms announcement of Eid, to Jummah Muslims, who also perform dhikr in their own way.

3. "Praakteesing" ranges from hitting 3 times a day, to 5 times on occasion. The cool brother and feisty hijabi usually fit in this category too as they move from the previous section having found their deen.

4. "Pious" Usually are spoken with a lot of mashAllahs after their name by other people. The never miss fajr crew is the pride and joy of the ummah.


The following is based on what I have heard, but every category above is represented on facebook, not just by a few people either!


I would say without a shadow of a doubt, facebook is the most dangerous for category 4.

The very people who can potentially use facebook in an appropriate way (if that is possible?) are taken as examples by category 2, who perhaps cannot. These role models provide a justification for its use by people with less self control, leading to its use in all the wrong ways by a lot of Muslim youth.

The most tragic is category 3, because people with massive potential justify clear errors, and major no nos under an umbrella of potential good. This could range from dawah, to event promotion - I have literally heard the works!

However, as the sister pointed out before, when Muslimah think that its ok to put a picture of themselves up on such a public forum, there is something wrong!

 

[Afg]

I don't have facebook and i don't plan on having one. Personally i don't see a use for it. I have heard from others about the many games and notifications here and there. I don't know, i just would not want to have one.

 

[sirajstc]

Good things for ok

byw there 2 bad things some naked pics so better avoid it

 

[Ramadhan]

Correct me if my information is wrong, but a user can be searched for and contacted via facebook, regardless of settings?

Actually, the privacy settings of Facebook is so comprehensive that you can set it to the max if you wish. No one can search you, and no one can see pictures of you or your family or your friends who are on your Facebook unless you invite them or give them privacy rights.

I used to get on FB almost daily, but this was two years ago, when there were not much garbage on FB.
Now I only check my FB one a week or when there is private message from friends/family.

 

[Raphael]

^^

JazakAllah brother for the info. I'm not sure if that has made it better or worse, the fact that people can now cover up that they are on it, all the while being in a crowd of like minded users, who sometimes oppose a wrong because they are "in it together"?

 

[Iris]

There are a lot of my friends from my collegedays who I neither mail nor talk to on msn, nor call(they're in different countries) Some of these ex-collegemates often put up useful info on upcoming exams and job opportunities only on FB, so that's why I'm there. I don't post pics...I don't write on 'walls', I don't take those dumb quizzes, I add only people I have known in real life(and there are hardly any people of the opposite 'gender' in my 'friends' list) I check it and sign out within a minute usually...A lot of the times I've deactivated it and left it so for months, activated it only when I needed to. Where's the haramness?
The only times I feel uncomfortable there is when those 'friends' put up strange pictures of themselves...then again I have the option of not seeing them.

It depends on how you use it and what you use it for. 'Internet' in itself is something a lot of people use to gain access to fitnah(much more than Television I daresay) it's something they can do without even stepping out of the comfort of their bedroom. Does that make it forbidden for Muslims??

 

[Raphael]

(and there are hardly any people of the opposite 'gender' in my 'friends' list)

Is "many people" from the opposite gender worse than "hardly any"? Do numbers matter? Its an honest question to you sister.

 

[Eliphaz]

Good debate, and a very current issue.

I completely agree that Fakebook, I mean Facebook is a double-edged sword, and might be a case of the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary of prohibition.

I also feel it is difficult to apply any metaphor to Facebook because social networking sites are such a revolutionary thing, a true paradigm shift as big as the invention of the internet itself, and therefore also posing as big a dilemma in terms of balancing the usefulness and benefits offered against protecting ones' self from the "e-haraam".

I think the quality of Facebook no-one seems to have mentioned, besides the freemixing aspect, is the timewasting aspect, which is not as obvious. Consider that typical users spend several hours a day writing on each others' walls, browsing galleries, writing comments, updating their own 'status' from 'asleep' to 'wasting my life away', etc, etc. ;D

Islam, as far as I am aware, condemns timewasting. The nature of FB is also that it is inherently addictive, and is hardly private despite any amount of privacy settings one tries to put in place. Think about all the information they can gather on you. I feel the 'friends' system is highly flawed without a lot of willpower to just say no to those people you've hardly met and don't really care for.

 

[Woodrow]

just my own views.

Probably the only Muslims who could use facebook wisely and not fall into fitnah would be a very devout and wise one. But, paradoxically such a person would have no need or desire to use it.

 

[sirajstc]

i deleted my FB because of the fitanah it distracts u from allsorts of stuff, and alhamdulillah i feel so much better without facebook.
btw it's also a waste of time for people mostly muslims who are actually addicted to facebook.

yeah saw true:statisfie

 

[Iris]

Is "many people" from the opposite gender worse than "hardly any"? Do numbers matter? Its an honest question to you sister.

Umm, yes? I have only one at the moment and he's a relative. It's not the same as having hundreds of random people on your list and then putting up cute pictures of yourself to impress them or whatever. And also, it depends on how you use the application, are you using it to send virtual 'flowers' and 'drinks' to each other or putting up ahadith and verses from the Quran as status updates to gather some good deeds by sharing knowledge.

Okay I do agree with the bit that fitnah is involved too directly in facebook as I heard of a couple of incidents where married sisters open their facebook in front of their husbands and the husbands get to see their female friends' profiles etc. Same goes for people who share passwords with their friends or leave their account 'signed in'. No matter how much of privacy precaution we take, this is one thing that's uncontrollable...i.e. who's sitting on the other side of the screen.

Oh facebook facebook, what to do? ): I really want to keep in touch with what's happening in my friends' professional lives...i wish there was another way.

 

[Somaiyah]

Salam,
I don't find Facebook good in many things. I have seen many both sisters and relatives that I feel should be more careful with what they do on Facebook. I feel that specially sisters have easy to feel more secure and upload pictures of themselves in a situation or clothing that they would never show themselves outdoors. Just because they feel safe with having only girls in their contact list. But then they realize that they have that album opened for friends' friends to see or that a sister might forget to sign out from her Facebook and a man might use her account for a bad purpose. The same thing with msn actually. We can never be sure of Internet.
I use Facebook for a few purposes: To upload new islamic pictures that I've found, upload random pictures (mostly not of me), talk with my sisters because I have no sisters where I live, to get to know new sisters and to post topics sometimes about something that I have thought of mostly Islamic stuff. And sometimes these topics make my sisters think about this too and might lead to something good inshallah. So I really believe that it's the intentions and how you use it that is more important than Facebook itself.

 

[Raphael]

Umm, yes? I have only one at the moment and he's a relative. It's not the same as having hundreds of random people on your list and then putting up cute pictures of yourself to impress them or whatever. And also, it depends on how you use the application, are you using it to send virtual 'flowers' and 'drinks' to each other or putting up ahadith and verses from the Quran as status updates to gather some good deeds by sharing knowledge.

Ok sister, the image construed from "there are hardly any people of the opposite 'gender' in my 'friends' list" to "I have only one at the moment and he's a relative" is a jump! Never mind, maybe there was just some confusion in the language used.

Of course it is not the relation that is important, but whether the male is mahram, a big difference!

I feel that specially sisters have easy to feel more secure and upload pictures of themselves in a situation or clothing that they would never show themselves outdoors. Just because they feel safe with having only girls in their contact list. But then they realize that they have that album opened for friends' friends to see or that a sister might forget to sign out from her Facebook and a man might use her account for a bad purpose.

If I could pose the following question...

What happens if a sister uploads pictures of herself -on any site- and someone hijacks the account and steals the pictures! Who is at fault? Does the perpetrator take unconditional blame?

Good debate, and a very current issue.
I think the quality of Facebook no-one seems to have mentioned, besides the freemixing aspect, is the timewasting aspect, which is not as obvious. Consider that typical users spend several hours a day writing on each others' walls, browsing galleries, writing comments, updating their own 'status' from 'asleep' to 'wasting my life away', etc, etc. ;D

Islam, as far as I am aware, condemns timewasting. The nature of FB is also that it is inherently addictive, and is hardly private despite any amount of privacy settings one tries to put in place. Think about all the information they can gather on you. I feel the 'friends' system is highly flawed without a lot of willpower to just say no to those people you've hardly met and don't really care for.

Facebook is a lot more than time-wasting. Its dangers run far beyond that.

just my own views.

Probably the only Muslims who could use facebook wisely and not fall into fitnah would be a very devout and wise one. But, paradoxically such a person would have no need or desire to use it.

Nail-on-the-proverbial-head