The Ruling on Photography with Photographic Cameras, Video, and Surveillance Cameras
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : No, no, excuse me. As for the photographic image, whether it is hung up or not, what is the difference between taking this by hand and that by machine?
There is no such phenomenon in Islam.
The questioner : This matter is undoubtedly a point of hesitation.
The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
The questioner : I say: There are now other things that do not involve photography, but involve live transmission. Now, if someone comes to your door, there are devices at the door, and the house is very far away.
The Shaykh : Oh Professor, I know, it is like a mirror.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : A mirror. And they used to argue with us that this photographic image is like a mirror, but this one is fixed and that one is fleeting. As soon as the person leaves the mirror, the image is gone. Is not what you want to say exactly like the image in the mirror?
The questioner : No, I want to ask about the ruling on this one that also disappears when the person leaves.
The Shaykh : If it is like a mirror, you have known the answer, but is it like a mirror?
The questioner : Yes, now in the houses, video devices are also the same thing. It moves to another new device.
The Shaykh : I know it, my brother. I saw this in Belgium, and I did not know about it. It was the door of the consulate I wanted to enter to move from Belgium to another country, but they did not allow entry. There was an employee standing behind the door, and I saw him looking at a place. I asked what he was looking at. He said: He is checking the person knocking on the door. The person knocking on the door does not know what is inside, but the one behind the door checks the person knocking on the door. I know this, but this is like a mirror; when the person knocking leaves, the image he saw from behind the door disappears.
The questioner : Okay, Shaykh, now we are afflicted with this image on screens, we who study at the university.
The Shaykh : No problem, Professor. I am with you in all of this, as long as the image disappears, I am with you. This is like a mirror. But the question was about video.
The questioner : It is by video, live transmission now by means of video.
The Shaykh : But there is transmission that is stored and transmission that disappears.
The questioner : It is not stored, but only if they wanted to store it, they could.
The Shaykh : That is it. So when it is stored, what is the difference between it and the image?
The questioner : Is it not stored?
Another questioner: The live one is stored. Who said it is not stored?
The Shaykh : No, he did not say it is not stored.
The questioner : Live tapes, live broadcast of the internal halls without being stored.
The Shaykh : I am with you, but can it not be stored?
The questioner : Yes, if they wanted to.
The Shaykh : That is it. What is video, is it not this?
The questioner : It is the same matter there, Shaykh. There is a camera there that takes pictures if you want. Originally, now the owners of companies use them. Some merchants sit in an office like this, and they have workers in such-and-such a building and workers there and there. So he has several devices monitoring his workers in all these buildings while he is sitting in his office.
The Shaykh : Oh Professor—may Allah reward you—there is no need for this detail. The detail is useful in the point of disagreement, but in a point where there is no disagreement, we say: It is like the known mirror of old. This mirror is developed. We know that, for example, in many companies or those that sell many goods, supermarkets, and in some countries as well, and even in some mosques, they put this detector, and there is a monitor from the inside to the end, but when it leaves from here, the image goes. So this is a developed mirror. This does not need research or evidence because it is not a point of disagreement.
But when you say, in answer to your question: Can this image be stored or not, and re-displayed to people or not?
You said it is possible. Okay, here is the research now: This which was possible and was actually stored and is now displayed on television and people see shapes and colors as if it is in front of them. These are fixed and moving images, not disappearing with the disappearance of the person, for example, or the animal. What is the difference between these and the image, whether the first photographic one or now in the single click? Is there a difference?
The questioner : What I understood now is that if it is stored, it moves to another ruling.
The Shaykh : That is it.
The questioner : But if it is not stored, it is permissible.
The Shaykh : No, there is nothing wrong if it is not stored. Subhan Allah! On the contrary, this is a machine that helps to detect thieves and detect such things and the wicked and the robbers and so on. But when it is stored, it becomes, as I said earlier: This is worse than the static image because it is a moving image.
There is no such phenomenon in Islam.
The questioner : This matter is undoubtedly a point of hesitation.
The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
The questioner : I say: There are now other things that do not involve photography, but involve live transmission. Now, if someone comes to your door, there are devices at the door, and the house is very far away.
The Shaykh : Oh Professor, I know, it is like a mirror.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : A mirror. And they used to argue with us that this photographic image is like a mirror, but this one is fixed and that one is fleeting. As soon as the person leaves the mirror, the image is gone. Is not what you want to say exactly like the image in the mirror?
The questioner : No, I want to ask about the ruling on this one that also disappears when the person leaves.
The Shaykh : If it is like a mirror, you have known the answer, but is it like a mirror?
The questioner : Yes, now in the houses, video devices are also the same thing. It moves to another new device.
The Shaykh : I know it, my brother. I saw this in Belgium, and I did not know about it. It was the door of the consulate I wanted to enter to move from Belgium to another country, but they did not allow entry. There was an employee standing behind the door, and I saw him looking at a place. I asked what he was looking at. He said: He is checking the person knocking on the door. The person knocking on the door does not know what is inside, but the one behind the door checks the person knocking on the door. I know this, but this is like a mirror; when the person knocking leaves, the image he saw from behind the door disappears.
The questioner : Okay, Shaykh, now we are afflicted with this image on screens, we who study at the university.
The Shaykh : No problem, Professor. I am with you in all of this, as long as the image disappears, I am with you. This is like a mirror. But the question was about video.
The questioner : It is by video, live transmission now by means of video.
The Shaykh : But there is transmission that is stored and transmission that disappears.
The questioner : It is not stored, but only if they wanted to store it, they could.
The Shaykh : That is it. So when it is stored, what is the difference between it and the image?
The questioner : Is it not stored?
Another questioner: The live one is stored. Who said it is not stored?
The Shaykh : No, he did not say it is not stored.
The questioner : Live tapes, live broadcast of the internal halls without being stored.
The Shaykh : I am with you, but can it not be stored?
The questioner : Yes, if they wanted to.
The Shaykh : That is it. What is video, is it not this?
The questioner : It is the same matter there, Shaykh. There is a camera there that takes pictures if you want. Originally, now the owners of companies use them. Some merchants sit in an office like this, and they have workers in such-and-such a building and workers there and there. So he has several devices monitoring his workers in all these buildings while he is sitting in his office.
The Shaykh : Oh Professor—may Allah reward you—there is no need for this detail. The detail is useful in the point of disagreement, but in a point where there is no disagreement, we say: It is like the known mirror of old. This mirror is developed. We know that, for example, in many companies or those that sell many goods, supermarkets, and in some countries as well, and even in some mosques, they put this detector, and there is a monitor from the inside to the end, but when it leaves from here, the image goes. So this is a developed mirror. This does not need research or evidence because it is not a point of disagreement.
But when you say, in answer to your question: Can this image be stored or not, and re-displayed to people or not?
You said it is possible. Okay, here is the research now: This which was possible and was actually stored and is now displayed on television and people see shapes and colors as if it is in front of them. These are fixed and moving images, not disappearing with the disappearance of the person, for example, or the animal. What is the difference between these and the image, whether the first photographic one or now in the single click? Is there a difference?
The questioner : What I understood now is that if it is stored, it moves to another ruling.
The Shaykh : That is it.
The questioner : But if it is not stored, it is permissible.
The Shaykh : No, there is nothing wrong if it is not stored. Subhan Allah! On the contrary, this is a machine that helps to detect thieves and detect such things and the wicked and the robbers and so on. But when it is stored, it becomes, as I said earlier: This is worse than the static image because it is a moving image.