Twitter Usage and Following
I hope you are doing great by the mercy of Allah swt.
I know that the usage of social media such as Instagram is completely wrong and sinful if you are following the opposite gender as well, as there are pictures etc. posted regularly and people wanting to appear their best.
However I was wondering about Twitter, and if people of the opposite gender can be followed socially (as in they can see your tweets and you can see their tweets because they are in the followed list) as it is all typed text based, and is related to ideas, thoughts, opinions, news, sports, etc. on a public level with no individual contact at all. There are small profile pictures visible but are not very visual and I am only talking about covered women with hijab or modest men (of course those with improper covering would be wrong). I am asking for the main purpose of spreading beneficial thoughts, Islamic ideology, Hadith, ayahs, and such that can help people and their mindsets today, instead of everyone repeatedly just seeing things that are useless in the long run and based on modern thoughts etc. This is all extremely public (everyone followed even is visible to the public) with zero Haram contact so I am very curious if this is permissible.
JazakAllahu Khairan.
Answer
Wa’alaykum as Salām wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuhu,
It is permissible to follow accounts of the opposite gender on twitter if:
- They do not post any pictures
- They do not post too many details of their lives
- You do not feel any attraction to them based on what they post.
- There should be nothing else that is Ḥarām (eg: no unnecessary private DMs etc)
If your heart even inclines to the opposite gender, you should stop following them. This is irrespective of the content that they post.