What is the ruling on images on television?
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The questioner : Images on television?
The Shaykh : An image is an image, whether it is on television, on paper, or on boards; as long as it displays an image, it is an image. In fact, I have said more than once that the image on television is closer to being forbidden than ordinary images, because the image on television is moving while the others are static. Moving images are closer to achieving the imitation of the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) than static images. I also say that the photographic image, contrary to many of the contemporary scholars today, is more strictly forbidden than the hand-drawn image. This is because a hand-drawn image, no matter how skilled or artistic the painter may be, as they say, will inevitably miss some aspect of the subject being depicted. However, the photographic camera captures it exactly as it is, in its entirety. Therefore, the imitation here is greater than the imitation performed by the painter with his pen or brush. Likewise, we say that these television, video, or similar images realize the operative cause of the prohibition, which is the imitation of the creation of Allah, much more clearly than images captured by a photographic camera or by hand.
The Shaykh : An image is an image, whether it is on television, on paper, or on boards; as long as it displays an image, it is an image. In fact, I have said more than once that the image on television is closer to being forbidden than ordinary images, because the image on television is moving while the others are static. Moving images are closer to achieving the imitation of the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) than static images. I also say that the photographic image, contrary to many of the contemporary scholars today, is more strictly forbidden than the hand-drawn image. This is because a hand-drawn image, no matter how skilled or artistic the painter may be, as they say, will inevitably miss some aspect of the subject being depicted. However, the photographic camera captures it exactly as it is, in its entirety. Therefore, the imitation here is greater than the imitation performed by the painter with his pen or brush. Likewise, we say that these television, video, or similar images realize the operative cause of the prohibition, which is the imitation of the creation of Allah, much more clearly than images captured by a photographic camera or by hand.