“Scrolling Is Stealing What Recreation Was Supposed to Give You” Masjid An Nabwi Friday Sermon 10 July 2026
MADINAH: Rest is not the enemy of worship. That was the starting point of Sheikh Abdul Bari Al-Thubaiti’s Friday khutbah at the Prophet’s Mosque today, on 10 July 2026. He told the congregation that Recreation is allowed, even encouraged, so long as it stays inside the bounds of what is lawful and doesn’t quietly replace obedience with idleness.
Then he turned to screens. He added that hours lost to short clips and social media feeds are doing something specific and measurable: thinning out family ties and pushing the Quran further to the edge of daily life.
Sheikh opened by reminding worshippers to hold onto Taqwa, quoting the verse: “O you who have believed, fear God and speak words of appropriate justice. He will then amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins.”
Prophet’s Mosque Imam Al-Thubaiti’s framing of Islam was not the strict-and-serious version some people assume. He called it a religion of ease and moderation. One that gives “the soul its share, the body its share, seriousness its share, rest its share, this world its share, and the hereafter its share.” Recreation belongs on that list. It only becomes a problem when it starts crowding out everything else on it.
Why does Islamic law even bother making room for leisure? Al-Thubaiti’s answer: because it understands what people are actually like. Souls get tired. Bodies wear down. Even someone with real ambition eventually needs to stop and recover before they can keep going.
He pointed to the Quranic instruction to “travel through the land and observe” not as an endorsement of tourism for its own sake, but as a reflection: studying creation, learning from history, and letting that experience feed faith rather than distract from it.
He also brought up a less obvious verse, “Who has forbidden the adornment of God which He has produced for His servants and the good things of provision?” to make a simple point. Enjoying good things is not suspicious. It is a blessing, and blessings call for gratitude. As evidence, he pointed to the Prophet Muhammad’s own life: joking with companions, racing with his family, allowing amusement that brought people joy without tipping into sin.
“Recreation in Islam does not mean escaping from responsibilities, nor interrupting worship, nor wasting time,” Al-Thubaiti said in his Khutbah. In his telling, it is closer to switching tasks than switching off the body rests, but the heart stays where it was.
Here is where the Friday Khutbah at Masjid An-Nabawi sharpened. Recreation that pulls someone away from prayer, weakens family bonds, or eats into other obligations has stopped being Recreation, no matter how good it feels while it’s happening, Imam of Masjid An Nabwi said clearly.
His test for telling the difference is simple: look at what someone is like afterward, not what they were doing. Come back from rest calmer, sharper, and more consistent in worship, and that was beneficial Recreation. Come back lazy, distracted, indifferent to your responsibilities, and it was not even if it felt like fun at the time.
He added that by that standard, screens are failing a lot of people right now. One of the defining afflictions of this era: entire holidays disappearing into short videos and social feeds, until the days are gone and what’s left is a scattered mind, an empty heart, weaker family ties, and a Quran that barely gets opened. The pleasure is real. It is also short, and it costs more than it gives back.
He closed his Friday Sermon with a call for Recreation that actually does its job, rest for the body, something for the heart, something for the mind, instead of screen time that only pretends to.
