Are horror movies Haram in islam?

Question

I heard some people said that everything made me scared is forbidden in islam, Is that right? And if it's right what the references for that from Quran and sunnah??.

Answer 1

When someone ask a

Is ... haram in Islam?

question, we should response with

What makes you think that ... is haram in Islam?

Islam is not a religion full of harams. If something is not explicitly said to be haram in Quran, or is clearly forbidden by Rasul, then it is not haram under normal conditions.

And don't forget that, every halal action can be haram under extreme condition, and every haram action can be halal under extreme conditions.

For example;
Eating sugar is halal. But if you have a diabetic disease, and you blood glucose ratio is much above normal, you cannot eat sugar. Because it is suicide. Eating meat of pig is haram. But if you are alone in desert and starving, it becomes halal.

We can't say that watching horror movie is haram. But it can be haram if you enjoy watching people being slaughtered, or if you are wasting your precious time with watching too much movies (e.g.; 6 hours everyday).

A muslim must protect himself/herself from turning in a wrong way (from siratal mustakim - the rightful path defined in Quran). This kind of self protection is called taqwa in Quran. Every kind of detail (like watching horror movies) are not mentioned in Quran and Sunnah; a muslim must have taqwa and make the optimum choice for himself/herself. We are all responsible for making the correct choices about our daily problems.

Answer 2

Allaah has enjoined on the Muslims to preserve its members from doing all that affects the human nature which is created by the worship of God, and that the conservation of that member enters in thanking those great blessing that God bestowed it upon His slaves.

ولا تقف ما ليس لك به علم، ان السمع والبصر والفؤاد، كل أولئك كان عنه مسؤلا الاسراء:36

Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge. Verily the ear, the eye, the heart, each will be questioned Al-Isra:36

In other words, should not only have to move away from the obvious forbidden, but everything affects pure human Fitrah that God created them

and no one should argue that the the bad effects of those films on the communities in general, what may be a violation of the Islamic faith, educate the violence and to facilitate the crime, and other ill effects.

Answer 3

Here is a fatwa which should answer your question.

It basically says that in movies in general these days, you will see the following:

display of women's awra
display of men's awra
tight cloths
revealing cloths
their soft voices
enticing walks
dancing
music

All these things are haraam, and as all these things will be found in movies, that kind of suggests that movies are haraam. However, I guess if you can find a movie which doesn't have any of those haraam elements, then it could be concidered non haraam?