Everyone is giving their two cents on the Turkish period drama ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul‘. Given the fervent public interest in the series, even Islamic scholar Dr. Zakir Naik also decided to address it during a Q&A session recently. Of course, he decided to answer the question of whether it was haraam or halal.
Recently someone slipped in a question about the world-renowned Turkish series to Indian Muslim scholar Dr. Zakir Naik. The individual that posed the question explained the fame of the series in the sub-continent and mentioned how the ‘Deoband‘ sect in the sub-continent passed a fatwa against the drama.
Diriliş: Ertuğrul is a period drama about the rise of the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The series protagonist, ‘Ertuğrul‘, is the founder of the Ottoman Empire. The objective of the series is to glorify progressive Islamic values and history by presenting the story of ‘Osman the First‘.
The internationally beloved series presents a positive representation of Muslims to a global audience and has a global cult following.
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Dr Zakir Naik answers questions about Dirilis Ertugrul
Back to the Q&A session, Dr Zakir was asked this question:
‘What is your advice to the youth who are wasting their time in Ramada on this ‘haraam‘ series?’
A range of similar questions was also posed.
- “Is it permissible in Islam to watch Ertuğrul series?”
- “What does Islam say about watching dramas and movies?”
Dr. Zakir Naik mentioned that he receives some 100 questions just about the series Ertuğrul. Naik stated that his answer to these questions should not be limited to the Turkish series but is meant to be broadly applied.
Here’s what he says about content in the media:
“Let me tell you that I being in the field of media, almost all the movies, dramas, series, almost all, 99.9% would not fulfill the criteria of halal. Some are less haraam, some are more haraam.”
On the issue of Diriliş: Ertuğrul however, Dr. Zakir Naik said that he has not done a deep survey of the series yet.
“As far as Ertuğrul is concerned I have not done a deep survey on Ertuğrul. So I cannot answer everything on Ertuğrul. But yes I’ve read reports, I’ve read articles saying Ertuğrul is one of the best series in the world.”
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He asserted that no series can be fully halal so the Turkish series must be less haraam. The reason being? Turkish actresses without hijab.
“Yes, what I came to know from the articles that I’ve read it is less (haraam). It cannot be fully permissible as there are lady actors that are not in hijab. So it cannot be 100% halal. There is music in it which cannot be haraam, but there are hugging scenes, etc. But surely it is not like normal movies, like Bollywood and Hollywood, there is no smooching there is no love-making scenes, etc. Yes shaking hands, hugging etc”
His conclusions
He says surely it cannot be 100% halal, and that no one can give a fatwa that watching the series is permissible. So he suggests not watching any series at all. However, for cine-fans, he suggested they can go ahead and watch series like Ertuğrul.
He explained how he too has seen a less haraam movie The Message and recommends it to others even though it is not 100% halal. He explained that even though a movie or series is not obscene it can never be 100% halal. But since the movie helps bring people closer to Islam, it is permissible.
“A few years back I saw the movie, ‘The Message‘. Which is the best movie that has been created in the world, according to me, … Even ‘The Message‘ movie which I saw is not 100% halal, there was music and there were sometimes ladies being shown which were not properly dressed, but the way it was created the way it was made was superb. It will surely get a person close to Islam, but yet I cannot say it is 100% halal.”
So there you have it, folks. You can watch his arguments here:
