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- Islam encourages its followers to make their own distinctive contributions to life around them.
2- Muslim communities, especially in majority non-Muslim countries, are in a dire need to have their own Islamic arts, theaters, cinemas and all forms of entertainment that are all governed by the rules of the Islamic Shariah.
Responding to the question, Dr. Sano Koutoub Moustapha, Professor of jurisprudence and its principles at the International Islamic University, Malaysia, states:
Islam is a comprehensive religion. It does not contradict arts, sciences, economics, politics, culture and the like.
It also consists of guidelines and rulings that govern these activities. Once those guidelines and rulings are respected, then they should be considered as Islamic arts, sciences, politics, and economics.
The Muslim community should be able to take part in all these disciplines and activities.
The Muslim community should not leave the arts and theater in the hands of non-Muslims. Rather, they must be able to produce their own forms in all fields of arts.
At the same time, Muslim youth should not conduct the arts or theater in ways which contradict the teachings of Islam.
All in all, the Muslim communities need Islamic arts, Islamic theaters, and Islamic economics. However, a correction must take place when there is a violation against the rules and guidelines of the Shariah.
Having said this, I shall call upon the Muslim community to help those Muslim youth to uphold the teachings of Islam while performing these activities. The community should have patience with them and assist them in all ways that will help them avoid activities that are not acceptable in Islam.
The dawah (call to Islam) in using nice words and methods should be the way to correct the wrongdoings of some young people who are undertaking these activities.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.