Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- Be sincere towards Allah. Every person will die and what he writes during his lifetime will remain.
2- Boycott sites of the people of bid`ah.
3- It is important for sheikhs, writers and well-known people to take part in these groups.
4- Beware of wasting time.
5- We advise the enthusiastic youth not to indulge in matters of which they do not have knowledge.
6- Adhere to the etiquette dictated by Islam
Responding to the question, Sheikh M. S. Al-Munajjid, a prominent Saudi Muslim lecturer and author, states:
Yes, there are indeed many chat rooms on the Internet and many people visit them. Here follows some advice for Muslims who read and write in them.
1- The person who enters chat rooms has to realize that he is dealing with a large number of unknown persons and that the margin of trust when dealing with people who are not using their real names is very thin indeed.
2- The ordinary person who is not a specialist has to choose sites that are sound and useful and avoid the sites of the followers of bid`ah (innovation) and bad sites.
3- Be sincere towards Allah. Every person will die and what he writes during his lifetime will remain. So strive not to write anything except things that you will be pleased to see on the Day of Resurrection. There is no good in doing anything that is not intended to please Allah.
4- Boycott sites of the people of bid`ah and sites which mostly contain bid`ah because participation and discussion are the lifeblood of these sites. It is not permissible to promote the people of bid`ah; we must cause their names to die out and strive to prevent them from becoming well known.
The reaction of some of the Ahl As-Sunnah (mainstream Muslims) may have the opposite effect. It is not permissible for the ordinary Muslim to read the sites of the people of bid`ah with the motive of just looking or of discussing without knowledge.
He should leave it to those who are qualified to deal with it. There is nothing wrong with his telling the scholars about what the innovators are saying, then transmitting the scholars’ response.
5- Remind the owners of “mixed-up” sites (sites which indicate confusion between Sunnah and bid`ah) of Allah and of the fact that it is not permissible for them to allow innovators or authors of false opinions to spread those views through their site.
6- It is important for sheikhs, writers and well-known people to take part in these groups.
7- It is not essential for the scholar to join in directly. That may take up too much of his time. It is sufficient for some of his trustworthy students to convey information from him.
8- Beware of wasting time. Many students have let these chat rooms take up too much of their time. It is not necessary to refute every single bleat and every single foolish notion. It is sufficient to note the advice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),“Part of a man’s being a good Muslim is that he should leave alone that which does not concern him.” (At-Tirmidhi)
9- Be aware that spending time in teaching the Muslims and calling them to Allah takes priority over refuting this one and that one. Let us leave these refutations for situations where it is essential, such as when one of the people of bid`ah stirs up doubts or says something false and no one else is refuting him – in that case someone has to refute him.
10- We advise the enthusiastic youth not to indulge in matters of which they do not have knowledge. Regarding the matter of giving fatwas without knowledge, it is sufficient for us to note the words of Allah,“And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied against Allah (i.e. attributed to Him sons, partners) their faces will be black.” (Az-Zumar 39:60)
11- Adhere to the etiquette dictated by Islam and restrain the tongue (and the pen or writing is regarded as one of the two “tongues”). Allah says,“And say to My slaves (i.e. the true believers of Islamic Monotheism) that they should (only) say those words that are the best. (Because) Shaytan (Satan) verily, sows a state of conflict and disagreements among them. Surely, Shaytan (Satan) is to man a plain enemy.” (Al-Israa’ 17:53)
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.
Source: islamqa.info