Is it permissible to include the video of "The Race" episode from Ahmad Al-Shugairi's "Khawatir 6" program in a training course, given that it addresses the fatwa prohibiting the printing press in the Ottoman Empire, which might give the impression that this fatwa was the cause of the Ummah's backwardness, and is this premise historically, religiously, and media-wise accurate?
Some scholars saw harm in printing because it leads to abandoning memorization and introducing errors. The sheikhs of Al-Azhar issued a fatwa prohibiting the printing of religious books due to its negative impact on acquisition, as a student of knowledge might collect books without benefiting from them. The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II issued a decree prohibiting printing for his Muslim subjects. The Mufti believes that mentioning this information is unnecessary, given its good intention of preserving knowledge, the uncertainty of its historical accuracy, and its negative media perception. It is not true that Muslims lagged behind because of this fatwa, as they reached the peak of their progress before the advent of printing.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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