Reading a Chapter

The Shaykh: "Islam forbids statues: Islam has forbidden the Muslim home from containing statues, and by this I mean three-dimensional images that are not desecrated." His statement "not desecrated" excludes the prohibition of desecrated three-dimensional images. He said: "And He made the presence of these statues in a house a cause for the angels to flee from it, and they are the manifestation of the mercy and pleasure of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim." Here we pause for a moment to draw attention to this authentic hadith and its general usage of the terms "images" and "statues." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said in this hadith: , he did not say "three-dimensional" or "they are three-dimensional," but rather he used the general term: . Linguistically, a "statue" (tamathil) is an image, whether it is three-dimensional or not. It is likely that the book will include some hadiths where the term "statues" is used for images depicted on curtains. Images depicted on curtains, in the expression of the jurists, are not three-dimensional, and in the opinion of the author as well, I think, they are called statues. This is a usage of old Arabic. A statue is not, as many minds today assume, a three-dimensional idol. Linguistically, the term "statue" is broader than being three-dimensional. It serves as a substitute for... and the reality is not so... one should narrate what he heard unless he doubts, in which case he mentions the doubt, as you saw in this hadith: . The reality is that there is no difference between the two terms in terms of their linguistic meaning. Therefore, the general usage of the term here includes the three-dimensional and the non-three-dimensional, as it includes the desecrated three-dimensional and the non-desecrated three-dimensional, and it includes the desecrated non-three-dimensional and the non-desecrated non-three-dimensional as well. And this general usage: This is a comment from me. It says: "The scholars said: The angels do not enter the house that contains an image because the one who takes it has imitated the disbelievers, because they take images in their houses and magnify them. The angels disliked that, so they did not enter his house in boycott of him." Here is an observation or discussion regarding the author's statement: "Because they take images in their houses and magnify them." I see that this reasoning is deficient, especially if we look at it from the angle of the images in question. We know that images have become, among the European disbelievers, not a sign of magnifying every image. There is no doubt that there is a type of images that they magnify, but—also—it should not be doubted that there are images that they do not magnify, but rather they are like toys and dolls, as it is said, and things with which they decorate their houses, and they do not intend behind that a worshipful sanctification which is shirk (associating partners with Allah) itself.
The student : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: The magnification of church images.

The Shaykh: Church images. As for the images that are placed, for example, on palaces... and the borders of gardens and the like, this does not fall under the images that they take for magnification or for worship other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And if this clarification is clear and a reality, then at that time, the imitation by which the Muslim imitates the disbeliever when he places images in his house is a general imitation regarding the images that are magnified other than Allah, and those that are not magnified other than Allah, because both types are what the disbelievers do. Therefore, the statement: "Because the one who takes it has imitated the disbelievers" is correct, but the reasoning for the imitation that they take images in their houses and magnify them is deficient. It is better to say: Because they take images in their houses, either for magnification or for adornment, and this is the reality. And at that time, any Muslim who takes an image or images in his house is imitating the disbeliever. But there is a great difference between one imitation and another. The one who takes an idol to worship it other than Allah, that is the worst imitation on the face of the earth... And the one who takes an image or images not to magnify them other than Allah or to worship them, but for adornment, as we said, this is imitation, as we said, this is also imitation, but less than the third imitation. In any case, the one who takes these images is imitating the disbelievers absolutely. And accordingly, his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): is absolute, whether this image is magnified other than Allah or used to decorate the house, and whether it is three-dimensional or not three-dimensional. This is what is derived from the general usage of the hadith in his statement: .