What is the ruling on image-making and its types?

Question : The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, there has been a lot of talk and confusion regarding image-making, so we ask for a clear ruling on the matter.

Answer : First, this issue must not be the main concern of one's life. There has been scholarly disagreement on this matter since the time of the Companions, the generation after the Companions, and the Imams. It is not a matter of creed, so I am surprised by how much attention people give to this, while there are creedal matters they do not ask about. What is agreed upon is that a person making an image of a body in the form of a human or an animal is agreed upon, as far as I know, to be true, whether it is made to be worshipped instead of Allah, or as an ornament, or as an idol. Second, what is implied by waving the hand, there is disagreement on this from ancient times, from the time of the Companions, as mentioned in a narration in al-Bukhari except for a drawing on a garment.
But the stronger position, without a doubt, is that it is forbidden, and that it falls under image-making, based on the hadith of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, where he said to Abu al-Hayyaj: Third, image-making with a device that requires editing and developing; this also seems to me to fall under the prohibition, because it contains something of imitating the creation of Allah the Exalted, through the editing that the photographer makes in the film. So there is no doubt that the precaution and the better course is that it is forbidden, and that it must be avoided.
Fourth, image-making with a photographic camera and the appearance of the card; in my view, there is no doubt that this is not image-making, and the hadith does not apply to it, because this does not imitate the creation of Allah. It does not depict the eye, the nose, the lip, or the face at all. Rather, it records an image that Allah the Exalted created in the human being, as He said: "And it is He who creates you in the wombs as He wills." It is similar to a person looking in a mirror and seeing his face in it, although the difference is that the mirror is not fixed, while this is fixed. But in terms of the process, it is the same. That is why it is said to a man when he faces a mirror, "This is your image in the mirror." An image is called an image, but it is not forbidden. The difference between this being fixed and not fixed; this may be considered an innovation by the claimant that it is not effective, because the story of the photographic camera is exactly like facing a mirror. So I do not see that this is image-making. But for what purpose did the person do this?
Because if a permissible thing is intended for a forbidden purpose, it becomes forbidden. So if the intention is to cause fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), for example, if a person photographs a beautiful woman in order to take pleasure and enjoy looking at her whenever he wants, then there is no doubt that this is forbidden. Or if he photographs, for example, a gathering of women at a wedding in order to show it to everyone, this is also forbidden and there is no doubt about it. But if he photographs in play, then play is play, wasting money and wasting time. And perhaps this person keeps it for remembrance, and it falls under the general meaning of images. Therefore, the student of knowledge must know the difference between image-making and possessing images, as the jurists distinguished between them. Read the phrase of the masters of the future: "Image-making and its use are forbidden." So he made image-making one thing and the use of images another. The fifth category is image-making by video. In video tapes, the image does not appear in the tape; rather, the image appears on the screen. So it is close to a mirror, and it is closer to being like a mirror than the image on paper. Therefore, a discussion took place in a large council in the state about whether we can record the lectures given in the mosques, given the benefit in that? Most of the attendees held that there is no harm, except that they said this is feared to stir up the common people. And this is now used in al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Masjid al-Nabawi, recording the prayer and the sermon. So this large council saw that this should not be allowed in the mosques. This is a tendency to consider it a light matter. This is what I say now.

The presenter : No, no.