A Study on the Role of the Media and Its Effects on the Identity of Muslims(Part 46)
Functions, Field of Activity, and Content of Religious Media
Religion not only uses the media to promote its religious and moral values but also affects other functions of the media and its behavior. The religion of Islam claims that human beings achieve worldly and hereafter happiness and considers itself responsible for regulating the relationships of individual and social life. Therefore, it establishes ethical rules and principles and dos and don’ts to guide the performance of the media. By influencing the media, religion bestows upon it a dignified soul and religious content.
As a result, religious media is ethical and responsible, adhering to the doctrine of seeking justice, committed to the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil, guiding, defending the oppressed, and promoting moral and religious values.
A media that considers the highest act of worship to be the expression of truth against oppressors or believes that anyone who hears the voice of the oppressed and remains silent has no religion, will definitely be a pioneer in promoting Islamic teachings. Indeed, the verses and Hadiths related to the sanctity of concealing the truth in the Holy Quran are examples of behavior patterns for religious media and Muslim journalists:
“Those who conceal the clear signs and guidance which We have sent down, after We have explained it to the people in the Book; Allah curse them, and cursers curse them; Except those who repented and corrected themselves and revealed the truth. So, I will forgive them, and I am merciful and accepting of repentance. (Tawbah)”