asalamu 'alaykum

sorry for being away too long

anyway i have a question and if anyone could refer to any hadiths and an scholar from al-azhar U or al zindani it would be great

actually it isn't just one question but anyway
are watching cartoons haram? playing video games? listening to music...even if you use it to exercise?

also are reading certain books haram? what i mean is that i have cousin who is graduating from junior high but they have to read 25 books through out the year from a list they gave them and some of these books ( actually most of them) are about boyfriends and girlfriends and their problems

don't get me wrong or anything i just wanna be safe and make sure that those that i care about are too

i mean is any form of such entertiments haram??? i mean that would include all those soap operas also in the arab channels right?

anyway it's because i wanted to know where the line between haram and makrooh is

thankx

Welcome back to the YSAA bilqis.

Islamonline.net is a good place to search for such questions.

Here is a fatwa regarding listening to music (and few reference links in the end)

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Sate ... 9503545382


Another about video games:

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Sate ... 9503545740

I guess you can say the same about other forms of entertainment. Things are usually prohibited not because of themselves but because of what they lead to, or the damage they could do. I would recommend you ask in a website like Islamonline or just as your local Imam.

Also, I want to point out that Islamic knowledge isn't restricted to certain scholars or institutes. There might be some difference of opinion, but as long as those opinions are based on evidence from Hadith, Sunnah, qias or ijma3, then you can follow either one, and it is ra7mah for us.

I hope that helps.