Note: Although media fiqh is considered a newly emerged chapter among the branches of contemporary fiqh, it has a richer research background compared to many other branches. This has led to a relatively large number of books being written on the subject despite its novelty. Below is a brief overview of the books written on media fiqh from your perspective:
1. Collection of Discourses on Media and Communication Fiqh
Ali Nahavandi, Beh Nashr (affiliated with Astan Quds Razavi), Mashhad, 1398 AH (2019 CE), first edition, 384 pages.
In the two-volume book Collection of Discourses on Media and Communication Fiqh, the foundations and nature of jurisprudential rulings on media phenomena are examined. A detailed report on the content of this book has been published separately in this magazine.
2. Media Literacy and Jurisprudential Rulings on Media
Mohammad Reza Razi, Pashtiban Publications, Tehran, 1397 AH (2018 CE), first edition, 112 pages.
Optimal and effective interaction with media requires media literacy. From the perspective of Islamic media, media literacy is not only what is mentioned in academic literature but also necessitates jurisprudential insight, comprehensive awareness, and attention to all areas, including media literacy, minor fiqh, media ethics, and individual and social responsibilities. In this book, while explaining the position and importance of media literacy, media fiqh, and media ethics in light of individual and social responsibilities, the Islamic model of media literacy has been elucidated and analyzed. At the end, the main jurisprudential opinions and rulings on media are presented.
3. The Position of Media Literacy in Media Fiqh
Afsaneh Mazaheri and Mohammad Reza Razi, Pashtiban Publications, Tehran, 1396 AH (2017 CE), first edition, 52 pages.
As the title suggests, this research elucidates the position and importance of media literacy, media fiqh, and media ethics in light of individual and social responsibilities, analyzed within the framework of the Islamic Media Literacy Model (IMML). From the perspective of Islamic media fiqh, media literacy is not necessarily based on the components defined by UNESCO or Western academic literature; this is because a characteristic of Islamic media is its alignment with the principles and teachings of the sacred Islamic Sharia. Therefore, media literacy, in addition to skills such as usage, differentiation, identification, and analysis of media, also includes understanding the dos and don’ts referenced in our religious teachings. Fiqh means a deep understanding and comprehension of an issue; thus, media fiqh is one of the important areas of Islamic fiqh that must be addressed, and its rulings, obligations, and prohibitions must be derived, as the responsibility of minor fiqh is to articulate the obligatory, recommended, permissible, disliked, and prohibited acts.
4. Discourses on Culture and Communication Fiqh
Ahmad Ali Qanea, Imam Sadiq University Publications, Tehran, 1397 AH (2018 CE), first edition, 485 pages.
The author, a faculty member of the Faculty of Communication at Imam Sadiq University, also has a record of serving as the head of the Islamic Center of Ghana. In this book, he has attempted to raise and examine the following cultural and communication issues through a jurisprudential approach:
Interaction with non-Shiites, interaction with the People of the Book, the meaning of resembling non-Muslims, the purity or impurity of non-Muslims, the slaughtered meat of non-Muslims, marriage with non-Muslims, visits by non-Muslims to holy sites, shaking hands with non-Muslims, the importance of message delivery, prohibitions in message delivery, jurisprudential and ethical analysis of commercial advertisements, music and singing, rules and etiquettes of photography, fiqh of covering and gazing in the real and virtual world, fiqh of collective rituals (ta’zieh, mourning, head-blade mourning), sorrow and joy in the conduct of the Infallibles (AS), the Quran and public relations, and topics related to cultural policymaking.
This book is the result of seven years of the author’s teaching on culture and communication at Imam Sadiq University.
5. Media Fiqh
Mahdi Taeb, Tasnim Andisheh Publications, Qom, 1392 AH (2013 CE), first edition, 383 pages.
This book has been reviewed in a separate report in this magazine.
6. Jurisprudential Examination of Displaying Musical Instruments on National Media
Seyyed Abazar Alavi, Center for Fiqh of the Pure Imams Publications, Qom, 1400 AH (2021 CE), first edition, 292 pages.
Hojjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Seyyed Abazar Alavi, a graduate of the IRIB Faculty and the Center for Fiqh of the Pure Imams in Qom, has, due to his dual education in fiqh and media, examined the jurisprudential aspects of displaying musical instruments on national media, independent of its social and cultural dimensions. Accordingly, he has reviewed and analyzed the existing opinions in this field along with their respective evidence.
7. Fiqh of Commerce in the Seventh Art (Principles, Criteria, and Commercial Issues of the Film Industry)
Ali Nahavandi, Center for Fiqh of the Pure Imams Publications, Qom, 1400 AH (2021 CE), first edition, 504 pages.
Today, the art of cinema encompasses multiple aspects of the arts and, particularly in terms of technique and tools, continues to evolve. The film industry generates a significant portion of its revenue from box offices, television, home networks, online networks, web-based platforms, and mobile applications.
On the one hand, those involved in this industry face the question of which jurisprudential standards should govern their economic rules, contracts, transactions, commerce, and domestic and international trade? On the other hand, seminaries, especially scholars specialized in this field, are tasked with comprehensively deducing the rulings for commerce and transactions in the film industry and deriving rulings for emerging issues in this area.
The valuable work Fiqh of Commerce in the Seventh Art, which was nominated for the Book of the Year of the Islamic Republic in 1401 AH (2022 CE), has effectively outlined the ideal model and framework for commerce and transactions in the vast film industry from the perspective of Islamic fiqh and law by examining the jurisprudential and legal aspects of commerce in the seventh art and its dos and don’ts. By elucidating the jurisprudential model of economics and commerce in the film industry, it has significantly contributed to jurists and scholars in this field.
Hojjat al-Islam Ali Nahavandi, in addition to years of teaching advanced lessons in media fiqh and authoring numerous books and articles in this field, has served for ten years as the director of IRIB Khorasan and two years as the head of the Islamic Media Research Center, enabling him to offer authoritative opinions on both rulings and subject identification in media.
8. Descriptive Bibliography of Media Fiqh and Religious Media
Ali Sadeghi, Center for Fiqh of the Pure Imams Publications, Qom, 1399 AH (2020 CE), first edition, 479 pages.
This work is an effort to descriptively introduce sources authored and published in the country on the topics of media fiqh and religious media. Media includes television, radio, cinema, theater, press, advertising, and communications, some of whose topics and issues have been studied from a jurisprudential or ethical perspective by researchers. This collection is organized thematically into five main sections: media fiqh, media ethics, religion and media, media pathology, and soft warfare and media.
9. Jurisprudential Foundations of Media Soft Warfare
Ali Nahavandi, Center for Fiqh of the Pure Imams Publications, Qom, 1399 AH (2020 CE), first edition, 493 pages.
Today, mass media, newspapers, social networks, cyberspace, satellite networks, and the internet are powerful communication tools considered a battlefield for both supporters of faith and opponents, including ignorant and prejudiced adversaries from various intellectual, religious, and denominational backgrounds. A characteristic of opposing and hostile media networks is that they deem any means or crime permissible in the name of art and freedom of thought to achieve their goals, and their thoughts and actions are provocative, deviant, and tension-inducing. This research aims to elucidate the jurisprudential foundations and standards for confronting opposing and hostile media networks in the context of media soft warfare and to examine permissible Sharia methods for dealing with them.
10. Jurisprudential Scrutiny and Established Rules in Media Fiqh
Ali Nahavandi, Center for Fiqh of the Pure Imams Publications, Qom, 1402 AH (2023 CE), first edition, 376 pages.
In this book, the author has sought to explore the jurisprudential and deductive dimensions of media fiqh. To this end, he first addresses the definition of fiqh, media, and jurisprudential scrutiny. He then discusses the capacity of fiqh to address new issues and speaks of methods for resolving emerging issues. Further, by explaining the application of fiqh in policymaking and legislation, he addresses the important rules of media fiqh; although none of these rules are exclusive to media fiqh, they are highly applicable in this jurisprudential field despite their generality.