Man is civilian by nature. Thus, he has no life without communicating with his own kind. Going contrary to this is going against human nature. People throughout their human history have used a variety of communication methods between them through several channels, most of which rely upon direct communication and knowing each other on a personal level, which have obvious reasons such as sharing the same land, tribe, ethnicity, work, or trade, etc. Many times, that may forcefully create a variety of necessary communication methods that a person cannot possibly avoid and distance himself from.
Modern technology and the communications revolution have allowed various patterns of communication to exist that people have never known of before. They have allowed every interested individual to form whatever they wish of links in a diverse virtual world that is not restricted to time, place, sex, or age, in a global communications network stretching far and wide and encompassing the entire world with all that is in it. It has also encompassed all modes of communication, whether through words as with Twitter and Facebook, through audio and visual means as with Kik Messenger, or through pictures either taken by the users or chosen by them as with Instagram. As such, social network communications have encompassed all aspects of communication possible between people.
All of these types of social network communications have caused a shift in the lives of many people, making them preoccupied with these various networks in their daily lives regardless of difference in ages, interests and levels of education. Rather, you see this virtual world having besieged the real world to the point of either completely choking it or almost choking it.
Thus, there have been successive studies and recommendations that have made in rightly guiding this form of communication to reap its fruits and avoid its harms. The amount of good and benefit that is acquired from it is as much values that fall apart and feet slip in it, not only in shahawat (lustful desires), but also in what is far more dangerous of shubuhat (doctrinal doubts) and diverse intellectual deviations from the far right to the far left.
It goes without saying that many of those who communicate via these networks do so without a specific goal, vision, or message, but rather for fun, copying others, experimenting, or becoming familiar with it. Thus, it is of utmost importance that the ethics of dealing with these networks, perceiving their benefits and knowing their dangers are made aware to all. Whoever enters these networks without having been made aware of that is like he who sales in an ocean covered with waves upon waves in a small boat, either sinking or ending up in a wreckage.
What further emphasizes the necessity of having concern for raising awareness among users of these various pages is the young age of many of them, their lack of life experience, as well as the many culprits that have found in these pages an outlet and way to reach minds and segments of society that are difficult for them to directly communicate with. This requires raising the level of intellectual and moral immunity, self-censorship and the ability to sort and distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. In the end, Allah is the best guardian, and He is the most merciful of the merciful.
شبكات التواصل تحاصرنا
Written by:
Dr. Khalid al-Muslih
Professor of Fiqh (Jurisprudence) at QassimUniversity
11 / 2 / 1435 AH