- A slippery slope into overzealous censorship
By Amna Khan
In a desperate attempt to stay relevant, Shariat lawmakers have declared Netflix as un-Islamic, prompting one bank to quash payment services for Netflix subscribers. Honestly, I would’ve loved to be in the room when the Shariat lawmakers concluded that Netflix was corrupting young minds with its slogan ‘Netflix & Chill’. Can tax cuts not be made to defund this fundamentalist lobbying group that sometimes stares at the moon to denote a commencement of festivities or declares that Islamically one can beat his wife with an egg? I bet the next thing on the agenda is banning chicken breast pieces so that impressionable minds are not corrupted by them. Hopefully this doesn’t give them any idea.
Roughly two months have passed since the bank disallowed Netflix subscribers from making payments to their accounts and more recently another bank’s online banking has also been rumoured to adopt this policy. The reasoning provided for this decision suggested that Netflix’s tagline of “Netflix & Chill” encourages moral corruptness effectively making it Un-Islamic. Islamic banks have also disallowed the use of their cards in various entertainment activities such as casinos, bars, cinemas and now Netflix.
The official statement that justifies this stance: “As per the regulations and Shariah Compliance Guidelines of State Bank of Pakistan, [the] Bank cannot provide any product or service that is not in line with the guidelines of Shariah Compliance. Netflix, an online subscription service for movies and videos, also falls under the category of entertainment services that are not allowed in Sharia. (It is not a mixed content platform), hence based on customer complaints and after compliance review, the bank was required to block Netflix as part of its regulatory and Shariah Compliance requirement.”
It starts with just one act of prejudice that leads you down the wormhole of despair. Perhaps before demanding that our neighbour be more inclusive let’s ask ourselves whether this isn’t more a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
When financial service providers take it upon themselves to morally police people’s preferences one can only imagine what dystopian future awaits this Islamic Republic. The irony that escapes everyone is the fact that a bank is considered an exemplary enough business for someone who claims to care about being Islamic. The epitome of what defines a godly enterprise – “A Bank” is allowed to do this moral policing for online service streaming subscribers, who according to it should’ve probably signed into their accounts with their religious preferences as user IDs.
Considering the model upon which a bank functions, it cannot in any way escape interest collection (considered haram/unlawful in Islam), hoarding wealth and charging undue servicing fees. The insinuation that Islamic banking exists in any way is utterly false and this facade of an Islamic business deciding what is un-Islamic is beyond ludicrous. Tomorrow if other banking services decide that they too want to regulate consumer purchases based on their own religious inclinations, it shouldn’t surprise any of us. Every such decision is taken without any consideration for the non-Islamic masses who do exist amongst us. Who deserve the right to live a life on their principles, just like several other Muslims who do not mind going to hell for an episode of Stranger Things.
As difficult as it is for religious zealots to accept the fact that people possibly do not want to follow their fire brand do-or-die version of Islam, perhaps the government appeasing such extremist mindsets and giving them allowances for making these diminutive adjustments is what gives birth to the cult following of Khadim Rizvi. Personally, I cannot stomach the fact that stage shows haven’t been declared un-Islamic. One begins to wonder why such a vulgar display of entertainment has never been the subject of popular protest by the Shariat group. Perhaps because it is a form of entertainment that they can easily consume; it doesn’t require any undue intellectual stress for the brain to enjoy a woman dancing in negligée. Simply put, if the form of entertainment suits their sensibilities, it’s not haram. That explains why they haven’t thought of preventing payment to stage shows through their Islamic-banking current accounts. It’s only quality, intellectually stimulating content, provided by Netflix and other online streaming platforms, which might open minds and world views that harms their sensibilities, apparently poses a threat to the preservation of Islam.
Although this issue doesn’t seem like it’ll matter today, or tomorrow or even the day after that because we have Kashmir, climate change and Pakistanis frankly don’t care! In a country where everything is wrong, one often forgets how to set anything right. In the larger scheme of things, it’s necessary to understand that it is this creeping Islamic fundamentalist agenda that’s shaping our narrative across the globe. One vendor refused to sell meat to a Muslim shop and gradually all of them followed suit in India. You have to see how both incidents carry a warning signal with them. If the Bank is Islamic, that does not necessitate that non-Muslims or any other brand of Islam should follow its version. It starts with just one act of prejudice that leads you down the wormhole of despair. Perhaps before demanding that our neighbour be more inclusive let’s ask ourselves whether this isn’t more a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
