Assalamu Alaikum I have a muslim friend who would wish that you'd answer her question (She doesn't have AOL). Her question is" Is it Haram to read about bad things? What about hearing or reading about bad stories? If it is, then what should I do to recover my bad deed?" Please answer it as soon as possible!
Praise be to Allah.One of the aims of shareeah is to protect peoples honour
and to preserve lineages (keep them legitimate). For this reason, marriage has been
prescribed, and fornication, adultery, sodomy and lesbianism have been forbidden. All the
things that may lead to the above have also been forbidden, such as looking at non-mahram
women (women to whom one is not closely related), mixing with them or being alone with
them. Dressing improperly and forming friendships with the opposite sex have also been
forbidden. All of this is aimed at preventing the provocation of desires, and at directing
desires into legitimate channels instead of letting them find forbidden means of
expression. One of the principles of shareeah is that whatever leads to haraam deeds
is itself haraam, so everything that leads to the provocation of haraam desires is haraam,
because it may lead to a person falling into fornication and adultery. Once desire has
been provoked, it invariably means that a person has to find a way of satisfying it, and
so he or she commits a haraam act. Reading stories and magazines with sexual content, and
looking at dirty pictures and movies provokes these kinds of desires and leads to haraam
deeds, so they are not allowed. We should avoid them and keep away from them. Warn your
friend about this and tell her to repent by keeping away from these things and getting rid
of any bad books, movies etc. that she still has. She should feel remorse for the past,
and should do more righteous deeds from now on. We ask Allaah to grant us all chastity and
good health, to purify our hearts and to accept our repentance, for He is the Acceptor of
repentance, the Most-Merciful.