Dangers Of The Internet In The Muslim Home: Uncomfortable
Statistics
20 January 2010By Al-Ikhwah Al-Mujahidun
In the Name of Allah, the
Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
The purpose of this article is to make us aware of the
dangers that lurk behind the use of the Internet
[especially for children] in the home. As opposed to
sticking our heads in the ground like ostriches, it is
time we had an honest assessment of the facts and
figures associated with the use of the Internet and it
being a tool for Shaytan.
DANGERS OF THE INTERNET; EASY OF ACCESS TO
PORNOGRAPHY
With the help of a few clicks, pornographic content
spreads rampantly across the Internet, carried over an
innumerable number of web sites, through explicit
images in spam, and through advertisements on search
engines. Various statistics show children increasingly
being exposed to pornographic content. The content can
involve despicable and disgusting acts, sometimes even
involving children. The annual revenue of the
worldwide pornographic industry is over £60 billion –
that’s more than even Hollywood. According to a study
by the London School of Economics, 6 out of every 10
children in the UK [1] were regularly being exposed to
pornography – that is the majority of children.
MAJORITY OF CHILDREN
Approximately 90 percent of children aged 8 to 16 have
seen pornography on the Internet. There are many ways
in which children are being exposed to this evil
material. Anybody with an email account would know
that they are constantly bombarded by emails
explicitly advertising pornography or indirectly [by
showing one thing and upon clicking re-directing to an
explicit site].
There are many game sites on the internet which allow
harmless games to be played but advertise sexually
explicit websites. According to the TopTenReviews
report, at least 26 names of cartoon characters were
linked to porn sites, thus exposing children to adult
content on the Web.
UNCOMFORTABLE STATISTICS [2]
[1] – 89 percent of youth in chat rooms receive sexual
solicitations.
[2] – 73 percent of those exposures happened while
searching or surfing the Internet and 27 percent while
opening e-mail or clicking on links in e-mails or
instant messages.
[3] – 67 percent happened while using the Internet at
home; 15 percent at school; 3 percent in libraries;
and the rest at other homes, such as friends’, and
elsewhere.
[4] – most of the images were of nudity, 32 percent
showed a sexual act,
[5] – web searches and search engines were the most
common route to exposures (47 percent).
[6] – in 26 percent of the surfing incidents, the
children surveyed were “mousetrapped” into another
dirty site while trying to get out of the one they
were in.
INTERNET – TOOL OF THE SHAYTAN
The Shaytan, who is our open and clear enemy, is using
the Internet to corrupt the Believers and their
children’s morals, Imaan [faith] and dignity. Allah [swt]
says in the Qur’an,
‘Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to
commit Fahishah’
al-Baqarah 2:268
WHAT DOES ‘FAHISHAH’ MEAN?
Linguistically ‘Fahishah’ means, ‘an excess or
enormity, a thing excessively and enormously foul,
evil, immoral, lewd, obscene, a sin or a crime which
is excessively foul; adultery or fornication.’
One finds that the Internet is the marketplace for
people indulging in ‘Fahishah’ and all the steps that
lead to it – accumulating major sins in the sight of
their Creator, Allah [swt]. The Shaytan has openly
declared war on the children of Adam [due to his
jealousy] and his primary aim is to drag as many of
them as possible to the Hell-Fire with him – May Allah
[swt] protect us and our children [ameen]
PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Repeated and long-term exposure of pornographic
material is severely traumatic and damaging to
children’s Imaan [faith] and leads to all sorts of
psychological and behavioural problems. One must
realise that you cannot delete from the memories of
children what they have seen of these images or
videos. These ‘evil seeds’ are planted into the hearts
of the innocent resulting in producing adults who are
sexually perverted, promiscuous, immoral,
psychologically inept and corrupt Muslims who continue
to battle with their sins.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
Parents must take active responsibility to ensure that
their homes are safe from the influence of Fahishah –
especially from the Internet. We recommend the
following:
[1] – Do not have access to the internet anywhere in
the house except in the main living/dining room with
the computer monitor facing outwards – i.e., towards
the rest of the room
[2] – Children do not need to have email addresses or
accounts on Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Yahoo etc.
Supervise access to YouTube.
[3] – do not allow them to use chatrooms
[4] – Only allow access to the internet while they are
being supervised [or in groups of responsible
children]
[5] – Setup bookmarks for your children and only allow
them to visit these ‘approved’ sites – do not give
them the opportunity to type in the address box
[6] – Putting a physical block on adult sites – this
can be done by adjusting the settings in your internet
explorer
[7] – Install internet protection software for
children – available free online
[8] – Ensure that the history of the pages visited
cannot be deleted.
WARNING
Please do not turn a blind eye to dangers that the
Internet poses to our future – our children. Doing so
would be tantamount to incompetence and
irresponsibility on the part of the Parents. Is it
logical that we would ever hand our children a 500
page encyclopaedia, that has 50 pages of explicit
material and then expect our children never to stumble
upon them? The astute parent would remove the 50 pages
and then hand the book over or sit by their side and
make sure nothing other than beneficial information is
looked at.
We ask Allah [swt], the Lord of the Worlds, to protect
us and our children from the fahishah [immorality] and
fitnah [turmoil] that surrounds us and protects us all
from the traps of the Shaytan [ameen]
[1] – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6336509.stm
[2] – Mainly taken from the key findings of U.S. Study
“The Exposure of Youth to Unwanted Sexual Material on
the Internet”
©
EsinIslam.Com
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