Is it permissible to watch movies or clips that show women for exhortation and to learn a lesson?

It is not permissible to
show a woman in video clips and to distribute them to people on the grounds
that they are moving. It is well known that the woman is ‘awrah. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The woman is
‘awrah.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (1173) and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani
in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi. 

So it is not permissible to
look at her – in real life or in a picture – and sharee’ah makes no
exceptions except that which is done in cases of necessity, such as looking
at the woman to whom one wants to propose marriage, when giving testimony,
in the case of medical treatment and so on. 

These moving clips,
especially those that depict bad situations, such as the one mentioned in
the question, or those that show the collapse of a hall in which men and
women were dancing and drinking alcohol – it is not permissible to publish
or look at any of that, and the one who insists on doing that should erase
the images of woman completely. 

As for the things that are
published about road accidents, explosions, earthquakes and the like, it is
permissible for the purpose of teaching lessons and exhortations, so long as
they do not include pictures of women or show their ‘awrahs uncovered.  

We think that the Muslim
should seek reminders and be made to fear Allaah by reading the Qur’aan and
saheeh Sunnah. There is nothing wrong with using this story as a reminder in
preaching so long as one avoids false stories or those that may lead to
provocation of desire. 

And Allaah knows best.