Considering today’s information systems, is it possible to eliminate misguidance and books? Today, the information system has changed, and it is not in our power to prevent the publication of anything. It was the same in the past. Currently, all the books written from the second century onwards in rejection of the Qur’an are available and have not been destroyed. What was said about the statements of the monotheists has never been destroyed, and at least it has been mentioned in Islamic books and discussed and examined.
Hujjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin Sayyid Muh. Ali Ayazi, although famous for his interpretation and Quranic sciences, has a long-standing interest in the knowledge of jurisprudence and solving the emerging challenges facing this knowledge. His numerous articles and books on topics such as the rule of dignity, the jurisprudential ruling on stray books, compulsory hijab, etc., bear witness to this claim. In connection with his article on the ruling on keeping and preserving stray books, we discussed with this teacher and researcher at the seminary and university about the title of “stray” as one of the titles that makes artistic activities sacred. The result of this discussion was this oral note that you can read.
The nature of misguidance in the Qur’an
We have a title in the Qur’an that has a news aspect. The Holy Qur’an says: “That which misleads people”; that is, something that misleads people. The issue of misguidance in our jurisprudential books from the beginning to the present day does not exist under a fixed and random title. Of course, they have discussed its definition, for example, as misguidance or astray, or they have defined its general concept, that is, astray; but there is no consensus on what misguidance is and what its instance is. Also, our jurists have mostly talked about the book of misguidance and have not entered into other titles. For example, in the discussion of wealth or gambling, they have analyzed titles such as corruption that are imposed on these matters, but they have not conducted such a discussion about misguidance and astray.
Questions about misguidance
Another question is whether the issue of misguidance is a personal and individual matter or a social matter? The next question is, what is the criterion for determining this misguidance? Is misguidance a customary issue or a religious issue? I find it unlikely that a jurist would believe that misguidance is a religious issue. Explanation: The subjects of rulings are of two types: one is invented subjects, such as ablution; the other is customary subjects that have existed among human society and were not invented by the legislator, such as sale, lease, and agency. Given that misguidance is a customary issue, naturally, in order to understand its meaning, one must refer to custom, and that is the custom of a specialist and expert.
Another point is that misguidance, in the sense of misleading, is first of all a doubtful category and may cause misguidance for some and not for others. Secondly: Is this misleading primitive or continuous? Sometimes a doubt and question may be mentioned in our own jurisprudential books and cause doubt. Now, can we say that the very raising of this issue causes misguidance? It seems that what is meant by misguidance is permanent misguidance; that is, misguidance that cannot be resolved, rather than being created initially and then resolved. But in the case of permanent misguidance, the question arises again as to what is the reason for the uncertainty not being resolved? Is the problem the person himself who cannot resolve it, or is it related to the lawgiver and God who created this problem in the form of a problem such as the issue of force majeure or predestination and matters like these, and has Himself said that it will never be resolved? Considering these points, it seems that before discussing a ruling on misguidance, we must first reach a clear conclusion about its examples so that there is a possibility of discussing its ruling afterwards.
Is every book containing false information misleading?
Rulings that have been based on misleading topics indicate that misguidance is not a matter of doubt. For example, they have said that everyone should destroy misguided books. From this it is discovered that these books must be misguided for everyone; that is, they must be from matters that are definitely wrong in the Shari’ah. Therefore, for example, if in the discussion of compulsory hijab, someone comes and says that hijab is not compulsory, we cannot say that he is misguided; because not everyone agrees on this matter; but if someone denies the Imamate of the Commander of the Faithful, or the Messengership, or prayer, then it will definitely be an example of a misguided book.
But this seems to be incorrect; because firstly, someone who simply denies a subject does not cause misguidance. If he denies a subject such as the guardianship of the Commander of the Faithful and gives a reason for it, this act alone does not cause misguidance. Secondly: Considering today’s information systems, is it possible to basically eliminate misguided material and books? Today, the information system and the information system have become different and it is not in our power to prevent the publication of anything. It was the same in the past. Currently, all the books written from the second century onwards in rejection of the Qur’an are available and have not been destroyed. What was said about the statements of the monotheists has never been destroyed and at least it has been mentioned in Islamic books and discussed and examined.
The difference between misguidance in books and misguidance in art
All of this is in addition to the fact that the category of art is fundamentally different from the category of books. First, these seven arts are not connected to the human mind and rationality, but to people’s emotions and feelings. In books, you see words and speech, and in your mind, it leads to the imagination and confirmation of the issue; but art is not like that. Art is connected to your emotions and feelings. For example, in political affairs, if someone says something to destroy officials or publishes a photo of the wrongdoing of that official, which is more effective? Definitely the latter.
When we discuss misguidance, we are actually discussing belief; that is, a heart-to-heart bond is created; but in art, a heart-to-heart bond is not created. In art, a desire for an issue may be created, but a belief is not created, faith is not established. Yes, it may become an opinion due to repetition of the issue, but art itself does not, first and foremost, create an opinion; especially in some artistic categories such as humor or novels, sometimes they do not create any kind of consensus in understanding or perception of the subject. For example, in the case of a film, sometimes each viewer has a different opinion from the other. One considers it good and another considers it bad; therefore, in my opinion, we cannot apply the title of misguidance to art; because it is objectively excluded. There is only one case, which is pornography. In the case of pornography, there may be a consensus that it is bad and incorrect. Of course, in the West, there are also some restrictions on viewing pornography and even other things such as images and films involving murder or violence, whether they are age restrictions or restrictions on broadcast time. Some of these things may not be forbidden in terms of misguidance; but, for example, they may be incorrect in terms of insult and humiliation. For example, if someone were to show a statue of one of our characters naked or with only their private parts covered, this would not be a matter of falsification, but rather an instance of insult.
The Four Subjects of Falsification
There are four subjects in Falsification: 1. The principle of the act, 2. Keeping it, 3. Buying and selling, 4. The necessity of its destruction. In the past, when our jurists spoke about falsification books or about the destruction of entertainment equipment, they presented the issue as a personal issue, not a social issue; that is, they said that he did not have the right to keep it, but he should destroy it, but they did not say that the government should destroy it or that society should destroy it.
The Challenge of Music and Singing
Regarding the issue of music and singing, one of the serious issues is that the dimensions of this issue have not yet been clarified. Evidences such as falsification, falsehood and hadith are certainly not universal, but have a specific meaning. For example, false does not mean merely acting falsely; because many of the things we say are false, but are they forbidden? Sometimes these words may be said in a humorous way or for a warning, such as exaggeration in art. This is while in the fourth century there are those who say that music brings peace and attention to God. Similarly, in four or five cases, they have spoken about the virtues of music; but our jurists have not seen these words at all; rather, they have simply gone to the evidence and seen the issue as a whole. What is wrong with people hearing a spiritual meaning through music? Why don’t we take the issue of leisure seriously?
The Challenge of Women’s Solo Singing!
One of the issues that is a source of controversy is the issue of women’s solo singing. This is while we really have no evidence that a woman’s voice is a private part; therefore, a woman’s voice is not a matter of prohibition at all. In the Qur’an, we have three or four verses that talk about women’s speech, from the daughter of Prophet Shu’ayb to conversations where, for example, a woman came to speak with the Prophet or with other people and the Qur’an recorded this woman’s speech. So, a woman’s voice in itself is not a hindrance. Even if it is forbidden, there is no difference between men and women. It is in the Prophet’s life that there were women who sang in battle and excited the army; or, for example, in the Prophet’s era, there were women who were singers and the Prophet did not object to this. In my opinion, our jurists did not have a correct idea of the category of singing. In the West, Dr. Sayyid Husayn Nasr has a book in which he categorizes music. There he says that in the West there is also a special type of music that is unconventional, that jazz that has special exciting and provocative states, but other types of music are not like them. In short, you cannot lump all types of music together.
The challenge of prejudice in identifying misguidance
In this regard, I would like to present two points: First, it is up to the expert to identify misguidance or not. The second point is that today, many of these judgments that are made in identifying this category are based on a type of prejudice. For example, in the past, if a hair was out of a woman’s hair, they would say that it was misleading; whereas now this is not the case; therefore, in my opinion, the identification of these issues should be up to experts based on field research and scientific work, not based on prejudice.
The solution to the dispute between jurists and artists
A point that can greatly bring the relationship between jurisprudence and art closer is logical reasoning. Today, a significant gap has emerged between the opinions of artists and the objections raised by jurists or representatives of jurists, causing them to not understand what the latter say and the former to not understand what the former say. However, if the discussions are based on logical reasoning, a common language is created and convinces them. People naturally become convinced of the wrongness of this work when they see that it promotes violence, addiction, laziness, unemployment, or family disputes and conflicts.