Am I Sinful for Subscribing to Platforms That Stream Content Dismissing God?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
Am I sinful for subscribing to or patronizing streaming platforms that stream content that may include disbelief, polytheism, or content disrespectful to God or religion?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Streaming platforms are merely a hub for movies, shows, and other content to be stored and accessed. The platform itself doesn’t necessarily hold the belief espoused by the shows it streams.
Your subscribing or using of such platforms is permissible with two conditions:
1) That the platform does have content that is permissible in nature, such as documentaries, children’s shows, or even films whose focal topic itself is permissible (despite some problematic elements). A site in which the entirety of its content is prohibited is forbidden to use, subscribe to, or any type of patronizing. An example of such a site is pornagraphic sites.
2) That you abstain from watching that which is sinful, especially any content antithetical to religion.
[Taqi Uthmani; Risala fi’l I’ana ‘ala’l Haram]
Allah Most High says, “He has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear Allah’s revelations being denied or ridiculed, then do not sit in that company unless they engage in a different topic, or else you will be like them.1 Surely Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell.” [Qur’an; 4:140]
Indirect Assistance
Despite your subscription or use of the platform being a means of its continuation, you are not directly responsible for the impermissible content being streamed. Your part, as an individual, in the assistance of prohibited content being streamed is insignificant and indirect. [Taqi Uthmani; Risala fi’l I’ana ‘ala’l Haram]
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
