Recordings › Shaykh Kashif Khan | Policing thought, Pornography & Pandora's box | MindTrap with Mufti #15 · 19 Apr 2020 › Segment 18 of 35
Does lowering the gaze apply to images and screens?
fiqah jurisprudence fikh hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith imam imaam prayer leader muftis hukm ahkam hukum hukam ahkaam haraam forbidden mubah mubaah dalil daleel adillah adilla proof iman imaan eemaan eeman sahabah sahabi sahabiyyah sahabiyat companions as-salaf salaf al-salih salaf us-salih al-salaf early generations ulama ulema ulamaa sheikh shaikh sheik shuyukh shaykhs hijaab hejab hijabi niqaab burqa burka purdah parda face veil awra satrLowering the gaze: lustful looks, the real and the virtual, and a teacher attracted to students
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This segment1:32:23 to 1:40:19 · 7 min 56 sA view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenThe guest says most classical scholars took the forbidden gaze to be the lustful one, and that jurists distinguished seeing a person in the flesh from a reflection or screen, a matter on which there are two opinions.
In more detail
The guest says he wrote an article showing that the prohibited gazes in the classical works are, according to most scholars, the lustful ones, and that jurists distinguish between seeing someone face to face and seeing a reflection or a film; he cites Ibn Qudama and says a contemporary shaykh, Ibn Uthaymin [?], asked about watching female news anchors without hijab, made the same distinction. In a tangent he mentions the low-alcohol nabidh the salaf drank. Mufti Abu Layth restates the distinction between the real and the virtual, and the guest says even the Hanafis differed over reflections in the context of hurmat al-musahara. On the 'awrah, Mufti says a woman not meeting the minimum requirements of covering is technically uncovered whether she shows her neck or more, though what stimulates people differs. The guest relates that a man who teaches mixed classes and felt attracted to students who wore make-up asked whether to leave his job, and he told him that others' covering is not his responsibility and that he cannot lower his gaze all the time while teaching. Mufti notes the objection that lust is still lust, and the guest replies that there are two opinions, each with evidence, and that this is in the fiqh books, not his own view.
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This segment presents a view in order to discuss or respond to it. It is recorded as quoted, never as held, and no position is attributed from it.
Kind: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held Speakers: host and guest; guest speech is labelled and excluded from positionsTranscript
machine1:32:23 to 1:40:19 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
A guest speaks in this segment. Guest speech is labelled and is excluded from the positions layer.
This segment states a view in order to discuss it. It is recorded as a quoted view, not as a position held.
gaze now what would how would you reconcile that with that I mean apart from just saying well you could lower the gaze and lower the handset device you're looking at obviously wasn't very funny tape it was literally and even even I haven't I had an article on this explaining this word from the different classical mockery they said that the prohibited gauges are bad and so I said
above Wow yeah yeah yeah the bad cases from the eyes that sorta harm and those cases demo faster in have said I think majority of them have said those are the lustful gazes not that me really you're looking at at a woman it becomes Haram so that death at the gazes that you should not be look looking at them but here comes the catch the problem is they're looking someone face to face as naked and looking at reflection a movie of it see this is the vendor than the
shop iteration and even I quoted from ethnic Adama and they had states is a big fiction there is a linear distinction even sheer shadows Amin was asked when we see the female anchor and watch TV news female female thoughts yeah and why is it female articles
without any job niqab they are they have done makeup and things like that so share what the mean was asked whether it is permissible to watch such woman on TV or not so he made a dissection that there's a different looking someone at faith to faith and looking from one life to about three percent alcohol
to have Nabil like they said only other than the actual summer yeah find web everything is allowed right yes to pee on a story and many of the philip they would drink it before yeah bring drinks a lot and they would even go to the valley ma unless there was no reason it see that you know you'd get on with
those kind of imams baccarat and he said married teach me narrate me the hadith or teach me he said I wouldn't I wouldn't narrate to you unless you bring me a glass of happy imagine having a heavy cane and teasing happy no coming back to you what you want use anxious so this making a distinction between the
real and the virtual so you're saying well when the woman is not in person or the man or the man arguably is not in person it's a picture image and because it's not real although it's a reflection yes so the ruling back say you're saying that's a vital distinction you use this reflection thing in the real methods of collage and nikka and form a thermo Sahara's these things all the jurists they have differed even the Hannah piece they have differed although they have said is haram to look at it but they have differed looking like even
in the home Ottoman Sahaba issue that if we look at into into a reflection of picture of someone and rather than looking than the so what do they say there are two things see if a woman is naked right let's say half naked or she's in Islamic alley if a woman is not a Muslim woman it's not fulfilling the minimum requirements of a job then definitely she's naked doesn't matter if she exposes her private part or she
exposes her neck so it's Lama Kali is the same thing if she's exposing her neck or like meat shift but there is a distinction between let's say coal or obviously private parts will stimulate people you know by seeing them as opposed to let's say just seeing her hands or forearms for example yeah all with men I mean same thing a woman a Muslim woman if she's not covering you are going outside and I'd like to bring a university professor he asked me that
he teaches in the university and him in the university they have both male and young females and they they come up with makeup and the perfume and he gets attracted towards them like you know getting sexual feelings and things like that it's a natural thing so he asked me should I leave my job that is the universe this was in Pakistan or in Australia the guy he was in Pakistan I know no he
was overtly it's not here okay professor he asked me that but it should he good teaching I said to him see this if someone is not covering herself it's not your duty you can if and what you can do you can note all the time you cannot blower your cases in teacher if someone and this is the first work some contemporary scholars as well if a woman is not covering up that's not your responsibility
some people would argue here that that's fine many of the autumn a chef to do today you know like you mentioned seeing women TV anchors or accuracies or women around you that this is not her on because that's how the culture is that that's how they address they're not Muslims but the issue here is that people would say that these Fatah were like some of the chef's a jurists and I think if not Gautama like you mentioned they say them even if you look lustfully they say well OB Shawa even if you are lustfully looking because it's a
reflection and it's not the real thing it's not Haram I mean so this is the distinction people would come back with they say we are talking about lost here though yeah see if you want I see they're different they're of course two different opinions those who say it's Haram with the Sahaba others say it's not Haram so if you follow the both sides of the scholars have their own evidence that's right so it depends what
principles you're following it's not my papa it's not something I have my little on it's already in the big book it's already in the same book so and in one thing more it's connected with this matter and if a non Muslim woman in Islamic society is she obliged to cover herself is she obliged to the way of personal but really brahim and hi and i think it was also the opinion sophie an authority that not i've always taken a liking just found him amazing
Paragraphs overlapping 1:32:23 to 1:40:19. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2020-04-19b-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/housirokbvu/s/18/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, April 19). Does lowering the gaze apply to images and screens? [Video, segment 2020-04-19b-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/housirokbvu/s/18/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "Does lowering the gaze apply to images and screens?" Video, segment 2020-04-19b-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded April 19, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/housirokbvu/s/18/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2020-04-19b-S18, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Does lowering the gaze apply to images and screens?}}, year = {2020}, month = {4}, date = {2020-04-19}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/housirokbvu/s/18/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/housirokbvu/s/18/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2020-04-19b-S18, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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