How can Islamic values be used as a guide for choosing safe and beneficial online entertainment? 

Parenting Perspective 

Guiding our children’s entertainment choices is not about banning all fun,but about giving them a strong internal compass. Islamic values can provide a clear and positive framework for making wise decisions online. 

Create a Clear Values Checklist 

Work together to create a simple checklist based on your family’s values. This could include questions like, ‘Does this game encourage kindness?’ or ‘Does this show have respectful language?’ This helps your child to use their faith as a practical filter. 

Discuss the Difference Between Fun and Harm 

Have gentle conversations about how true, wholesome fun should make us feel good without causing any harm to our minds or hearts. Guide them to notice if a game makes them feel aggressive or if a show promotes disrespect, and to confidently choose something better. 

Encourage Active, Not Passive, Consumption 

Encourage them to choose digital activities that involve creativity or learning, rather than just passive scrolling. Show them that entertainment can be both fun and enriching for their minds at the same time. 

Model Value-Based Choices 

Your child learns most from your example. Let them see you applying the same Islamic values when you choose your own media. This powerfully reinforces that these principles are for the whole family, not just for them. 

When Islamic values become the foundation for their choices, children learn to navigate the digital world with purpose and integrity. 

Spiritual Insight 

Islam guides us to be mindful consumers, whether of food, products, or media. We are encouraged to choose that which is tayyib (pure and good) and to avoid that which is harmful to our spirit. 

Choosing What Benefits 

Allah Almighty states in the noble Quran at Surah Az Zumar (39), Verse 9: 

‘Say, “Are those who know equal to those who do not know?” Only they will remember [who are] people of understanding…’ 

This reminds us that seeking out content that is beneficial and increases our knowledge is a far superior use of our time than engaging with that which brings no good. 

Entertainment That Strengthens Faith 

It is recorded in Jami Tirmidhi, Hadith 2322, that the holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: 

‘The world is cursed and what is in it is cursed, except for the remembrance of Allah and what facilitates it, and the scholar and the student.’ 

This teaches us that our leisure and entertainment should, ideally, not be a source of heedlessness, but should be chosen in a way that aligns with a life of purpose and remembrance.