What is the ruling on photographic and camera-based imaging?

Question : Regarding the photographic image, some scholars have forbidden it absolutely, some have said it falls under the ruling of being disliked, and some have said there is no harm in it. We hope to clarify this.

Answer : The matter is as the questioner stated regarding the disagreement among contemporary scholars on the permissibility of photographic images. Some of them said that it is forbidden and falls under the curse, because it is an image, and there is a hadith from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that he cursed the image-makers, and he said Thus, the hadith indicates that photographic imaging is forbidden, indeed one of the major sins, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed its doer. And some of them said that photographic imaging does not fall under the curse, because it is not the kind of image-making the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) intended. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) specified the image-maker who deserves the curse, where he said who resembles …a grain, or let them create a speck of dust. And this man who shone the light on this body opposite the machine did not draw it, for he did not sketch the eye, the nose, or the mouth; the most he did was shine strong revealing lights that caused this image to be imprinted on this card that came out of the machine. He said that the exact equivalent of this is if a person receives a letter from a friend, then photographs it with the camera and the picture comes out; is the one who drew these photographed letters the one who operated the machine, or is it the first writer? The first writer is the first writer, without a doubt. For this reason, the blind man who cannot see, or the sighted man who operates the machine in the darkness, can produce this image because he did not draw it with his hand. So, the one who depicts an animal, a tree, or something similar with this machine, he himself did not sketch, did not draw, did not create, and did not go about sketching like the creation of Allah; rather, this is the image that Allah the Exalted depicted, which was imprinted on this paper by means of this machine. Some of them also said that it is exactly similar to the image that the viewer sees in a mirror, except that what is in the mirror does not remain, whereas what is on the card that came out of the machine remains. If you stand in front of a mirror, the viewer of the mirror says, "This is the image of so-and-so," and he calls it an image, and so it is with the machine. Therefore, you find that the card, when it comes out, comes out reversed in position, meaning the right side of the photographed person is the left, and the left side of the photographed person is the right, exactly as it is in the mirror.
Others have said that this photographic imaging is neither forbidden nor permissible, due to the conflict of evidence in their view. Rather, it is disliked. If there is a need for it, it is permissible; if there is no need for it, it is not permissible. This is, in fact, the position upon which people act, as people now photograph passports, permits, and the like, even though these are not matters of dire necessity that would justify an action whose doer deserves the curse. An action that deserves the curse of its doer cannot be permissible except in a state of extreme necessity; it is not permissible for the slightest reason. Yet the current practice is to permit it for the slightest reason. In any case, the one who abstains from it is better off regarding imaging. As for possessing images, possessing images is forbidden, even photographic ones, because they are called images, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us . Therefore, what some people do of photographing for remembrance, or photographing for glorification, or the like, is forbidden, and it is not permissible for anyone to possess them. As for those who have images for remembrance, I see that it is obligatory for them to destroy them.

Question : The questioner says:

Answer : As for what is in the magazines, if the owner did not keep them for the sake of the pictures, but rather kept the magazine for the knowledge and benefits it contains, and these pictures are of no value to him, then preventing people from them entails great hardship and severe difficulty. Furthermore, if you were to ask the one who has such magazines, "Did you keep them for the sake of the pictures?" he would say, "No, and I wish they were not in them."