Learning a language from a source prejudiced against Muslims

31-1-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is it halal to learn a foreign language from a biased news source? I mean that in their report, for example, they do not tell the truth about the brutality of Israel and they lie about certain things in order to benefit Israel.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger. 

Visiting such news websites is not free of sharee'ah violations. For instance, the Muslim may be negatively influenced by some of the lies and rumors published on them and may be deceived into believing some of the misconceptions propagated by such websites, leading him to his own destruction.

Moreover, such websites track and monitor the visitors using and interacting with their sites, taking such figures as a sign of success and earning people's trust; they utilize such statistics in the promotion of their websites. Thus, the Muslim would be helping to promote such websites without knowing it. It is not unlikely that one of their ultimate purposes is to lure the Muslim youth into misguidance. Hence, a Muslim should not deal with such sources.

Learning a foreign language can be done through other sources that are free of such violations. The Muslim should seek to safeguard his religiosity; verily, the most precious thing one has is his faith, and losing it is the greatest loss ever. Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Hellfire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are (appointed) angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allaah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.} [Quran 66:6]

Allaah knows best.