Photographs, Some Fatawa’s on Taking Pictures
[FONT=Courier New]Among the scholars who have discussed the issue of photography is Shaykh Naasir al-Deen al-Albaani, who said: "Some of them differentiate between hand-drawn pictures and photographic images by claiming that the latter are not products of human effort, and that no more is involved than the mere capturing of the image. This is what they claim. The tremendous energy invested the one who invented this machine that can do in few seconds what otherwise could not be done in hours does not count as human effort, according to these people! Pointing the camera, focusing it, and taking the picture, preceded by installation of the film and followed by developing and whatever else that I may not know about… none of this is the result of human effort, according to them!
Some of them explain how this photography is done, and summarize that no less than eleven different actions are involved in the making of a picture. In spite of all this, they say that this picture is not the result of human action! Can it be permissible to hang up a picture of a man, for example, if it is produced by photography, but not if it is drawn by hand?
Those who say that photography is permitted have “frozen” the meaning of the word “tasweer,” restriciting it only to the meaning known at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and not adding the meaning of photography, which is “tasweer” or “picture-making” in every sense - linguistic, legal, and in its harmful effects, and as is clear from the definition mentioned above. Years ago, I said to one of them, By the same token, you could allow idols which have not been carved but have been made by pressing a button on some machine that turns out idols by the dozen. What do you say to that?"
(Aadaab al-Zafaaf by al-Albaani, p. 38)
Question:
From Hadramawt - “O noble Shaykh, I ask regarding the ruling on pictures taken using a photographic camera or those drawn out by hand, as I am a student in high school and I have to draw pictures by hand. May Allaah reward you with good.”
Answer:
Any pictures that are carved out of wood or rock, or made of mud or clay or anything similar are all forbidden if they are images of living creatures that have souls because of their imitation of the Creation of Allaah - the Mighty and Majestic. And in the authentic hadeeth is that the Messenger of Allaah (saw) cursed the image-makers, and to be cursed is to be expelled and far-removed from the Mercy of Allaah. And in the Divine hadeeth also is that Allaah - the Exalted - said: “And who is more oppressive than the one who went and created as I have Created! So, let them create an atom, or let them create a mustard seed, or let them create a fiber.” And also in the authentic hadeeth: “The people who will be tortured most on the Day of Resurrection are the image-makers who imitate the Creation of Allaah. It will be said to them: ‘Bring life to what you have made.’” And the proofs for this are many, and from the image-making that this warning applies to - according to the strongest opinion - is that which takes place when a human being draws an image of a creature with a soul by hand. This falls under the image-making that is warned against, and it is a sin from among the major sins.
As for the image-making that takes place using instant cameras, then this does not appear to fall under this because the photographer does not draw out or try to imitate the Creation of Allaah. Because of this, if some people are presented with a photograph that has been taken, you will not find them saying: “How good is this photographer! How excellent is he!” But, if they are presented with a hand-drawn picture that closely resembles what was being drawn, they will say: “How good is this artist! How excellent is he!” So, this proves that there is a difference between drawing the picture by hand and taking it using a camera.
And this is also proven by the fact that if a person writes something by hand and a photocopy is made of it, then the people will not ascribe this writing to the one who made the photocopy of it, but rather they will ascribe it to the one who originally wrote it, and people still preserve copyrights in this manner. They would not say that this person who made the photocopy did a good job of copying the writing precisely using this innovative technology. In fact, a blind man can be given this task, or a man can perform this task in the dark.
However, if a man copies the handwriting of the original writer by hand so that the people think that it was the original writing itself, then the people would say: “How innovative he is! How excellent he is! How did he copy this handwriting so precisely?” And with the likes of these examples, it becomes clear that photographic imagery is not image-making that can be truly ascribed to the one who took the picture, and it cannot be said that this is imitation of the Creation of Allaah because he did not create anything.
And to in order to say that (photographs) are allowed, a condition must be met that they do not lead to what is forbidden, because the permissible things that lead to the forbidden are in turn forbidden. The means have the ruling of the ends. So for example, we do not see that it is allowed for a person to take these pictures in order to preserve memories, because of what this contains of possession of a picture that we fear might fall under the saying of the Prophet (saw): “The Angels do not enter a house in which there is a picture.”
Q: Some people say taking pictures and keeping them at home is haraam, is this true?. Because in N. America and Europe for example we heard every day a missing children and with out their recent picture it is difficult to trace them, so could you explain to me what kind of pictures is haraam and what kind is not haraam, because I like to take pictures from my children just for memory and I keep them at home, am I commiting a sin, please specify for me and give me some daliil.
A: Praise be to Allaah.
The basic principle concerning making pictures of any animate being, whether it is a human or any animal, is that it is haraam, whether the pictures are three-dimensional or are drawn on paper, cloth or walls, etc., or are photographs (taken with a camera), because of the reports in the saheeh ahaadeeth which state that that is not allowed, and threaten the one who does that with a painful torment, and because they may lead to shirk in the form of standing respectfully before them, humbling oneself before them, drawing close to them and venerating them in a manner that is only befitting for Allaah. They are also forbidden because this is a kind of trying to match the creation of Allaah, and because of the temptation inherent in some of them, such as pictures of actresses and naked women, and so-called beauty queens.
Among the ahaadeeth which state that this is haraam and that it is a major sin is the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him), who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: ‘Whoever makes an image in this world will be told to breathe the soul into it on the Day of Resurrection, and he will never be able to do that.’” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim). He [Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him)] also narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Every image-maker will be in the Fire, and every image that he made will be made to appear to him and will torment him in Hell.” Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “If you must do that, then make trees and things that have no soul.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim). The general meaning of the ahaadeeth is that it is absolutely forbidden to make images of anything that has a soul.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 1/456-457
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said, when he was asked about pictures: making pictures for this purpose is haraam and is not permitted. That is because making pictures for memories is haraam, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “The angels do not enter any house in which there is an image,” (narrated by al-Bukhaari, Bid’ al-Khalq, 2986), and whatever the angels do not enter had no goodness in it.
Fataawa Manaar al-Islam, 3/759
