Entertainment and Mass Media: An Analysis of Western and Islamic Concept of Recreation

Entertainment and recreational activities are the basic necessities of human beings. Due to hectic life of modern technological world everybody needs amusements and entertainment to refresh the body and mind. In all the societies of the world events of amusement are arranged for the sake of recreation of the peoples. For this purpose, people arrange songs, dances, meeting of poets, plays, festivals, fairs, Stage shows, dramas and music shows according to their culture and customs. Today Film, TV and radio and social media have expanded the concept of recreation. The Western media has tried to utilized sports, music, singing, drinking, gambling, co-meetings, nakedness of women and obscenity as a weapon for making their programs interesting. Entertainment content of the mass media provides enjoyment and may nourish powers of aesthetic appreciation, so games, music, fashion, show business and even from decoration of houses to cooking is considered as recreation of human being. Muslim entertainment media is to somehow different from western entertainment and recreational media. This paper is meant to explore some distinguishing factors and ways of Islamic and Western styles of recreation and entertainment and the role of Muslim media in Muslim societies.