A Study on the Role of the Media and Its Effects on the Identity of Muslims (Part 43)
Functions, Field of Activity, and Content of Religious Media
In an Islamic system that adheres to religious teachings, all existing media should ideally be religious media. However, in practice, this may not be the case, and not all media can be considered entirely religious.
In addition to adhering to the norms governing Islamic society and fulfilling the functions defined for all types of media, religious media regards it as its primary responsibility to propagate and promote the messages of Allah Almighty to the audience. Nonetheless, both religious and non-religious media may coexist within a religious society.
Media that respect the norms, laws, and religious and moral values of the Islamic community are permitted to operate within that society, even if they are not explicitly religious. There is no valid reason to assert that all media in an Islamic society must be religious. For example, should an architecture magazine, a cooking magazine, a news radio station, or a traffic announcement radio station necessarily be religious?
Nevertheless, because these media operate within an Islamic society, they must observe religious culture. For instance, they should not advertise pork or alcoholic beverages. In addition to the general functions that all media should fulfill, religious media have specific responsibilities. In an Islamic society, religious media can serve as a vital tool for enjoining good and forbidding evil. By leveraging their capabilities, they can create and promote positive narratives and even take action to uphold moral standards. This means playing both the role of promoting good and holding individuals and society accountable, effectively exercising informal social control. From this perspective, a media outlet can be classified as religious.
In this sense, religious media serve as guiding, faith-oriented, and morality-centered platforms that prioritize Allah, religion, and Islamic teachings as the core of all their programs, thus moving in a righteous direction.
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