From the explanation of the book "Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib," the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
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The Shaykh : This is the eleventh hadith, and the last one in this chapter:
From Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) as well, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:.
This neck refers to a flame from the Fire; a portion of the Fire emerges, possessing two eyes with which it sees, two ears with which it hears, and a tongue with which it speaks, saying: I have been entrusted... meaning: with torturing them and burning them. بِمَن جعل مع الله إلهًا آخر ، وبكلِّ جبَّار عنيد ، وبالمصوِّرين [With] him who sets up another god alongside Allah, and with every arrogant, stubborn tyrant, and with the image-makers.Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 33:191. Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and said: It is a good, authentic, and strange hadith. He explains the strange term in the hadith by saying: "Unuq" with a dammah on the 'ayn and a nun; meaning: a group or side of the Fire.
This last hadith contains strangeness in terms of the news from the unseen matters that one must believe in; namely, that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), by His power, brings out a part of the Fire of Hell that takes the form of a head with two eyes, two ears, and a tongue with which it speaks, stating that it has been entrusted with torturing three categories: those who set up another god alongside Allah, every arrogant tyrant who is stubborn, and the image-makers. This hadith, which is the tenth hadith of the chapter, I have read all of them to you except the ninth, which has weakness in its chain, and those hadiths we read suffice for the chapter in place of it. As we said, the term "image-making" and "image-makers" is absolute; therefore, in terms of its absoluteness, it includes three-dimensional images and non-three-dimensional images. And in terms of looking at the reason for the occurrence of some of them, it indicates that the Messenger (peace be upon him) only said it in the context of non-three-dimensional images. Therefore, whoever restricts these hadiths to three-dimensional images that have a shadow and does not include images drawn on clothes, curtains, walls, and paper today is one of two types: either he has not looked into these hadiths, especially the clarification that the Messenger (peace be upon him) directly intended images that have no shadow. This type is only conceivable regarding some of the early scholars who did not live in a time when the Sunnah had been collected. As for the other type, they are those who looked into these hadiths after they were recorded and access to them was facilitated, and they are the contemporaries today. They interpret these hadiths with false interpretations. Two things indicate the falsity of these interpretations:
The first matter: The generality and absoluteness of the hadiths, as you heard in some of them: كلُّ مصوِّرٍ في النار Everyone who makes representations of things will go to hellMishkat al-Masabih 4498. So, the one who says: No, not every image-maker is in the Fire, but the intended meaning of "image-makers" here is those who carve idols, is contradicting this explicit universal statement in the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him). And by the meaning of this universal statement من صوَّر صورة Whoever makes an image.. Also, from the words of inclusion, meaning: every image-maker is in the Fire. This is one aspect. The second aspect, which is clearer as we mentioned and established, is that the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned these hadiths you heard in the chapter regarding images drawn on curtains and not carved from stone as the disbelievers did in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. Interpreting these hadiths to mean that the intended target is only three-dimensional images is a rejection of these hadiths. We fear that one who interprets them with this false interpretation, after this falsity becomes clear to him in the general saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers - We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination.[An-Nisa 4:115], if the Messenger says: كلُّ مصوِّر في النار Everyone who makes representations of things will go to hellMishkat al-Masabih 4498, من صوَّر صورة كُلِّف أن ينفخ فيها الروح يوم القيامة وما هو بنافخ - أو وليس بنافخ - Whoever makes an image will be commanded to breathe life into it on the Day of Resurrection, and he will not be able to do so—or he is not able to do so., and says that and similar things in the context of images that have no shadow; how can a Muslim who believes in Allah and His Messenger say that the forbidden images in these hadiths are only those that have a shadow; meaning: three-dimensional images?! So we conclude that the forbidden images, in general and comprehensively, include those that have a shadow and those that do not, including three-dimensional and non-three-dimensional.
And among the deviations and circumventions of the rulings of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His Shari'ah, after rejecting such texts that indicate that the forbidden images are also non-three-dimensional images; despite that, some writers in the modern era have devised a ruse that I think preceded the Jews. I say it plainly, and you will say it with me when you hear what he did and what he did. It came in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that detailed for us the refusal of Jibril (peace be upon him) to enter the house of the Messenger, even though he had an appointment with him, and he mentioned to him that there were statues; meaning: images on the door and on the curtain. So he ordered the images on the curtain to be changed until they became like the form of a tree. The meaning of that is that this curtain was embroidered and had statues—meaning: images of winged horses as in some narrations. So when Jibril (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered this image to be changed until it became like the form of a tree, the meaning of that is adding new constraints to this image so that the features of the previous image are eliminated and it appears to represent the image of a tree. So the scholars took from this hadith that if an image is changed, it exits the prohibition and becomes permissible.
But—regrettably—they did not stop at or with this change that Jibril specified for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon them both); meaning: they did not stop at this total change; meaning: the one by which the features of the previous image are obliterated, and after that another image appears like the permissible form of a tree. They did not stop at this comprehensive change, so they said—for example: if the image, an image on paper for example, is changed and a line is drawn on the neck. They claimed that this image changed its form; why? They claimed that the head became separated from the body... what is the benefit of this image? Because this image changed, it became permissible. And the changes cascaded, if this expression is correct. The absolute, comprehensive change that the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned regarding Jibril, they narrowed its scope. So they said—as you heard in the first change—that a line is drawn on the neck, so the image remained as it was; so it is a permissible image because it changed. So this is change number one of the total change that Jibril (peace be upon him) ordered in the previous hadith. Then they were not satisfied with this change and moved to another stage; they said: if the image is half—this is a widespread and overflowing calamity—then this image is permissible; because a person does not live with half of himself unless he has the hips and the belly and so on. This is a changed image. And we all know that the essence of everything, and specifically in the human being, is his head. So if the head remains and the legs go—for example—the image and its effect in the society that the wise Lawgiver fears, even in the distant future, are not eliminated. And for that reason, one of the reasons for the wisdom of prohibiting images is that He prohibited images so that they are not worshipped besides Allah (Mighty and Majestic), even in the distant future.
From Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) as well, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
A neck will emerge from the Fire on the Day of Resurrection, having two eyes with which it sees, two ears with which it hears, and a tongue with which it speaks, saying: I have been entrusted with three: with the one who sets up another god alongside Allah, with every arrogant tyrant who is stubborn, and with the image-makers.
يخرج عنقٌ من النار يوم القيامة له عينان يبصِرُ بهما ، وأذنان يسمعان ، ولسان ينطق به يقول : إني وُكِّلت بثلاثة : بمَن جعل مع الله إلهًا آخر ، وبكلِّ جبَّار عنيد ، وبالمصوِّرينThis neck refers to a flame from the Fire; a portion of the Fire emerges, possessing two eyes with which it sees, two ears with which it hears, and a tongue with which it speaks, saying: I have been entrusted... meaning: with torturing them and burning them. بِمَن جعل مع الله إلهًا آخر ، وبكلِّ جبَّار عنيد ، وبالمصوِّرين [With] him who sets up another god alongside Allah, and with every arrogant, stubborn tyrant, and with the image-makers.Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 33:191. Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and said: It is a good, authentic, and strange hadith. He explains the strange term in the hadith by saying: "Unuq" with a dammah on the 'ayn and a nun; meaning: a group or side of the Fire.
This last hadith contains strangeness in terms of the news from the unseen matters that one must believe in; namely, that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), by His power, brings out a part of the Fire of Hell that takes the form of a head with two eyes, two ears, and a tongue with which it speaks, stating that it has been entrusted with torturing three categories: those who set up another god alongside Allah, every arrogant tyrant who is stubborn, and the image-makers. This hadith, which is the tenth hadith of the chapter, I have read all of them to you except the ninth, which has weakness in its chain, and those hadiths we read suffice for the chapter in place of it. As we said, the term "image-making" and "image-makers" is absolute; therefore, in terms of its absoluteness, it includes three-dimensional images and non-three-dimensional images. And in terms of looking at the reason for the occurrence of some of them, it indicates that the Messenger (peace be upon him) only said it in the context of non-three-dimensional images. Therefore, whoever restricts these hadiths to three-dimensional images that have a shadow and does not include images drawn on clothes, curtains, walls, and paper today is one of two types: either he has not looked into these hadiths, especially the clarification that the Messenger (peace be upon him) directly intended images that have no shadow. This type is only conceivable regarding some of the early scholars who did not live in a time when the Sunnah had been collected. As for the other type, they are those who looked into these hadiths after they were recorded and access to them was facilitated, and they are the contemporaries today. They interpret these hadiths with false interpretations. Two things indicate the falsity of these interpretations:
The first matter: The generality and absoluteness of the hadiths, as you heard in some of them: كلُّ مصوِّرٍ في النار Everyone who makes representations of things will go to hellMishkat al-Masabih 4498. So, the one who says: No, not every image-maker is in the Fire, but the intended meaning of "image-makers" here is those who carve idols, is contradicting this explicit universal statement in the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him). And by the meaning of this universal statement من صوَّر صورة Whoever makes an image.. Also, from the words of inclusion, meaning: every image-maker is in the Fire. This is one aspect. The second aspect, which is clearer as we mentioned and established, is that the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned these hadiths you heard in the chapter regarding images drawn on curtains and not carved from stone as the disbelievers did in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. Interpreting these hadiths to mean that the intended target is only three-dimensional images is a rejection of these hadiths. We fear that one who interprets them with this false interpretation, after this falsity becomes clear to him in the general saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers - We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination.[An-Nisa 4:115], if the Messenger says: كلُّ مصوِّر في النار Everyone who makes representations of things will go to hellMishkat al-Masabih 4498, من صوَّر صورة كُلِّف أن ينفخ فيها الروح يوم القيامة وما هو بنافخ - أو وليس بنافخ - Whoever makes an image will be commanded to breathe life into it on the Day of Resurrection, and he will not be able to do so—or he is not able to do so., and says that and similar things in the context of images that have no shadow; how can a Muslim who believes in Allah and His Messenger say that the forbidden images in these hadiths are only those that have a shadow; meaning: three-dimensional images?! So we conclude that the forbidden images, in general and comprehensively, include those that have a shadow and those that do not, including three-dimensional and non-three-dimensional.
And among the deviations and circumventions of the rulings of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His Shari'ah, after rejecting such texts that indicate that the forbidden images are also non-three-dimensional images; despite that, some writers in the modern era have devised a ruse that I think preceded the Jews. I say it plainly, and you will say it with me when you hear what he did and what he did. It came in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that detailed for us the refusal of Jibril (peace be upon him) to enter the house of the Messenger, even though he had an appointment with him, and he mentioned to him that there were statues; meaning: images on the door and on the curtain. So he ordered the images on the curtain to be changed until they became like the form of a tree. The meaning of that is that this curtain was embroidered and had statues—meaning: images of winged horses as in some narrations. So when Jibril (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered this image to be changed until it became like the form of a tree, the meaning of that is adding new constraints to this image so that the features of the previous image are eliminated and it appears to represent the image of a tree. So the scholars took from this hadith that if an image is changed, it exits the prohibition and becomes permissible.
But—regrettably—they did not stop at or with this change that Jibril specified for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon them both); meaning: they did not stop at this total change; meaning: the one by which the features of the previous image are obliterated, and after that another image appears like the permissible form of a tree. They did not stop at this comprehensive change, so they said—for example: if the image, an image on paper for example, is changed and a line is drawn on the neck. They claimed that this image changed its form; why? They claimed that the head became separated from the body... what is the benefit of this image? Because this image changed, it became permissible. And the changes cascaded, if this expression is correct. The absolute, comprehensive change that the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned regarding Jibril, they narrowed its scope. So they said—as you heard in the first change—that a line is drawn on the neck, so the image remained as it was; so it is a permissible image because it changed. So this is change number one of the total change that Jibril (peace be upon him) ordered in the previous hadith. Then they were not satisfied with this change and moved to another stage; they said: if the image is half—this is a widespread and overflowing calamity—then this image is permissible; because a person does not live with half of himself unless he has the hips and the belly and so on. This is a changed image. And we all know that the essence of everything, and specifically in the human being, is his head. So if the head remains and the legs go—for example—the image and its effect in the society that the wise Lawgiver fears, even in the distant future, are not eliminated. And for that reason, one of the reasons for the wisdom of prohibiting images is that He prohibited images so that they are not worshipped besides Allah (Mighty and Majestic), even in the distant future.
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