Is it permissible to keep some local news channels that show unveiled women and unlawful content, instead of deleting them to avoid buying another receiver that displays worse content?
There is no sin in introducing news channels and similar content into the home if they do not broadcast content that incites discord, because their primary purpose is to follow the news, not to gaze at women. Watching these channels while averting one's gaze from unveiled women when they appear is permissible. Some contemporary scholars have differentiated between actual looking and looking at images, restricting the prohibition on images to looking with lust. Sheikh Ibn 'Uthaymeen holds that watching images of human beings is forbidden if done for pleasure or enjoyment; otherwise, it is not. If the image is of a foreign woman, it is safer not to look, for fear of temptation. Regarding looking at the image of a foreign woman, if she is specific and viewed with lust, it is forbidden. As for a fleeting glance without lust, its prohibition is debatable, and it is better to avoid it. If she is not specific, there is no harm in it, provided there is no fear of a religiously prohibited outcome.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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