The Ruling on Image-Making and the Evidence for Its Prohibition
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The last one said that a person discussed this with me and stated that some image-making is permissible, while other parts are not permissible. He claimed that there is no explicit verse in the Qur'an forbidding it, nor an authentic hadith clarifying the prohibition of image-making. He further argued that the forbidden images are three-dimensional ones, because in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), cameras for photography did not exist; rather, there was only the craft of making three-dimensional statues, and so on.
Answer:
The one who said this is ignorant of the condition. Image-making is mentioned in the texts from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger cursed the image-makers and said that they would be the most severely punished people on the Day of Resurrection. He said that the owners of images will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, even if they say, "We did not create them." It is not a condition for the prohibition that it be in the Qur'an. What the Qur'an brought, or what the Sunnah brought,[An-Nisa 4:80], [An-Nisa 4:59], He the Exalted says: [Al-Hashr 59:7] So be patient with all that has life.
The last one said that a person discussed this with me and stated that some image-making is permissible, while other parts are not permissible. He claimed that there is no explicit verse in the Qur'an forbidding it, nor an authentic hadith clarifying the prohibition of image-making. He further argued that the forbidden images are three-dimensional ones, because in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), cameras for photography did not exist; rather, there was only the craft of making three-dimensional statues, and so on.
Answer:
The one who said this is ignorant of the condition. Image-making is mentioned in the texts from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger cursed the image-makers and said that they would be the most severely punished people on the Day of Resurrection. He said that the owners of images will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, even if they say, "We did not create them." It is not a condition for the prohibition that it be in the Qur'an. What the Qur'an brought, or what the Sunnah brought,
He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah
مَّن يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَobey Allah and obey the Messenger
أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَAnd whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from
وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا
Source
ندوات الجامع الكبير مع الأسئلة - 44 — archive.org (1:31:44)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.