What is the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding some Muslims keeping the relics of previous nations and their false civilizations, such as idols and the Sphinx?
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The questioner : He says:The questioner : What is the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding some Muslim lands keeping the relics of previous nations and their false civilizations, such as the idols of the Pharaohs and the Sphinx, and what is the ruling on our visiting and viewing them for the purpose of taking a lesson and drawing a moral, as is seen in Mada'in Saleh?
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that taking idols is the custom of disbelievers, both in the past and the present. It is the first thing covered by the prohibition of images, regarding which you know the many hadiths that came confirming the prohibition of depicting them, keeping them, and using them. The scholars differed regarding these hadiths that prohibit image-making and keeping images: is the intended meaning three-dimensional images, i.e., statues only, or does it also include images that are not three-dimensional, which some describe as having no shadow, such as images drawn on walls, on paper, in books, or the like? They differed, but the correct view, in which there is no doubt, as mentioned by Imam al-Nawawi in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, is that the hadiths regarding this matter include both types: the three-dimensional and the non-three-dimensional, the one with a shadow and the one without a shadow. This is evidenced by the hadith of Aisha's curtain, which states:.
These image-makers, meaning those who depicted these images that have no shadow and are not three-dimensional because they are on the curtain, which is the qaram, so this hadith is explicit in its indication that the prohibition of image-making also includes images that have no shadow. Consequently, his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): also includes every image, whether it has a shadow or not, whether it is three-dimensional or not. All these images prevent the angels from entering. Therefore, it is not permissible to use idols and statues of both types, three-dimensional and non-three-dimensional, except for what is necessary and what has a stronger benefit with no harm. In this case, some of the forbidden images can be excluded by this condition that we took from the hadiths of the play of Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). Some of these hadiths are established in the Sahih. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to let the girls from her neighbors come to Aisha to play with her toys. These are the toys from which one should derive the permissibility of keeping some images that have a mentioned benefit and no mentioned harm.
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that taking idols is the custom of disbelievers, both in the past and the present. It is the first thing covered by the prohibition of images, regarding which you know the many hadiths that came confirming the prohibition of depicting them, keeping them, and using them. The scholars differed regarding these hadiths that prohibit image-making and keeping images: is the intended meaning three-dimensional images, i.e., statues only, or does it also include images that are not three-dimensional, which some describe as having no shadow, such as images drawn on walls, on paper, in books, or the like? They differed, but the correct view, in which there is no doubt, as mentioned by Imam al-Nawawi in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, is that the hadiths regarding this matter include both types: the three-dimensional and the non-three-dimensional, the one with a shadow and the one without a shadow. This is evidenced by the hadith of Aisha's curtain, which states:
That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he returned from a journey and wanted to enter Aisha's house, found that she had hung up a curtain for him. He did not enter and said, "What is this, O Aisha?" She said, "A curtain I bought for you." He said, "Did you not know that the most severely punished people on the Day of Resurrection are these image-makers? It will be said to them, 'Bring to life what you have created?'"
أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم لما رجع من سفر له وأراد أن يدخل بيت عائشة وجدها قد نصبت قرامًا لها، ولم يدخل، وقال ما هذا يا عائشة ؟ قالت: قرام اشتريته لك، قال: ألم تعلمي أن أشد الناس عذابًا يوم القيامة هؤلاء المصوّرون يُقال لهم أحيوا ما خلقتم ؟These image-makers, meaning those who depicted these images that have no shadow and are not three-dimensional because they are on the curtain, which is the qaram, so this hadith is explicit in its indication that the prohibition of image-making also includes images that have no shadow. Consequently, his statement (peace and blessings be upon him):