Shaykh (RA) considered Tafseer of Quraan lessons and programs one of the genuine legacies of the Ulamah of Deoband and encouraged using all permissible means to organise them including video recording and transmission.
Sometime ago I watched a video interview of the noble Shaykh (RA) and he was asked to clarify his position on video and photography and he summarised his view by saying that whatever is permissible in real life is also permissible on video and whatever is forbidden in real life is also forbidden on video!
Youtube Video
A truly precise, concise and succinct response from a truly knowledgeable Scholar of Islam.
Today, I woke up and something happened which deeply affected me, shook and devastated me to core. The issue happened online and because I was so deeply affected I decided to ring two of the leading Muftees in UK and get a ruling on the matter. To summarise both of the dear and respected Ulama-e-Kiraam replied that Islamic Shariah has specific guidelines around slander and the medium doesnt really make much of a difference.
A person in authority carries devastating power, he/she can casually make an implication and peoples characters and good names are ruined forever! In Islam an accusation must be presented along with facts and the person accused should be given the same chance and opportunity to try to clear their name and cant be denied their rights. If the accusation was made publicly but later found to be unfounded then the retraction should also be public. In Summary:
1) You can't make PUBLIC comments about a person by virtue of being a person of AUTHORITY;
2) Then request the same person to discuss the matter in PRIVATE;
A person in authority by virtue of their position has access to information which others dont and leaking selective information in dribs and drabs to suit a particular outcome or to formulate a (particular) image in the minds of others is a practice alien to Sayyidina Rasul-ullah (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam) and his followers. In fact, Allah (SWT) commands the believers:
[33:70] O you who believe, fear Allah, and speak in straightforward words.
Those of us who spend time online on Islamic forums must know that the medium of delivery is largely irrelevant. Those in position of authority amongst us i.e. Moderators, Administrators of Islamic forums and blogs must realise the potential for damage which their powers inherently carry. But there is hope as I reflect on a similar case few days ago about Hajj Rip Off
http://www.muftisays.com/forums/people-s-say/7115/hajj-rip-off.html
The Ameer of the forum (Maulana Yasin) and Brother Abu Muhammad contacted the person who stands accused to respond...When you see actions things like this it fills your otherwise extremely dark day with hope!
Let it be alone that slander, backbiting are equally HARAM on forums as they are in real life. A sin committed by the tongue (in speaking) or by the fingers (in typing) is equally HARAM and if a sin is committed regarding a person then Islamic Shariah has specific guidelines on how to rectify it.
Imam Nawawi (RA) writes in Riyadus-Saliheen:
Scholars say that it is s a duty to repent of every wrong action. If it is disobedience which occurs between a person and Allah and does not involve the right of another human being, repentance has three preconditions. The first is that one divest himself of disobedience. The second is that he regret doing it. The third is that he resolve not to ever return to it. If one of the three is lacking, then his repentance is not sound. If it involves to another human being, repentance has four preconditions: these three and that he discharges his duty to the other person. If it is money or the like, he pays it to him. If it is a hadd-punishment because of slander and the like it, he give shim power over him or seeks his pardon. If it is slander, he undoes it, He must repent of all wrong actions. If he repents of some of them, the people of truth say that his repentance of them is sound, but he still has the rest.
In English we say, "Put up or Shut up!", in Islam we say "Be sure, otherwise RETRACT and then Shut up!"