Can You Watch TikTok During Ramadan? While Social Media Isn’t Forbidden, How You Use It Might Be
Muslims may want to consider the origins of TikTok as a social media application, and its owners, ByteDance, and its compliance in suppressing Uyghur Muslims.
Published March 13 2024, 11:29 a.m. ET
Ramadan is supposed to be a time of abstinence and reflection — by refraining from food, drink, sexual relations, and other luxuries one would normally indulge in, we may gain a greater appreciation for the comforts we enjoy in our lives and that those who are less fortunate than us may not ever get access to.
But since Islam was founded in 610 AD, there have been a lot of developments humanity has experienced since then, adding to the list of Rama-don'ts during the holy month.
And something a lot of smartphone-obsessed social media doomscrollers may be asking is: Can you watch TikTok during Ramadan?
Can you watch TikTok during Ramadan?
While fasting from sun up to sun down, keeping yourself from drinking or eating anything during that time, you're probably going to want to find a lot of ways to occupy your time until the exact minute arrives where you can chow down on all the things you've been dreaming about eating all day.
According to Islamic tradition, there are seven main things that'll invalidate someone's fast, and per Islam Q&A, the majority of these answers are directly lifted from Sahih Al-Bukhari hadith, which are companion narrations to the Quran for Islamic rulings and regulations of how to be in compliance with whatever God told Muhammad he wants his followers to do.
The following, in the traditional sense, will invalidate one's fast, and you will have to make up those days after Ramadan is over in many instances:
- Intercourse
- Masturbation
- Eating or drinking
- Anything that is regarded as coming under the same heading as eating and drinking
- Letting blood by means of cupping
- Vomiting deliberately
- The blood of menses and nifas
There are tons of other exceptions listed on the Islam Q&A website delineating exactly what should or shouldn't be done during the month of Ramadan, but as a general rule of thumb, you shouldn't be engaging in any other haram activities while fasting.
Well, doing haram things are bad in Islam in general, but doing so during the month of Ramadan is especially bad. But social media isn't necessarily on that list of things that invalidates your fast ... but it depends on how you're using social media and what you're watching on it as well.
If you're scoping out TikTok dances of big booty influencers pouring milk on their surgically enhanced bodies or trying to slide into the DMs of some dude with mommy issues, then yes, that's probably going to break your fast.
Social media isn't any more haram than talking is; it just depends on how you use the applications and what you're using them for.
But if you're really concerned about upholding your Muslim-hood, then you might want to think twice about using TikTok at all.
Seeing as how ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is closely intertwined with the Chinese Communist Party, and has purportedly developed an algorithm that was meant to suppress Uyghur Muslims, if you're concerned about whether or not Allah is approving of you using TikTok, maybe supporting a company that helped put 2 million fellow Muslims in concentration camps isn't the best way to celebrate Ramadan.
But no, using Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, or any social media application during Ramadan will not invalidate your fast, but there are plenty of folks who try and use the month to stay away from excessive online app browsing for the month.