What is the ruling on wearing clothes that have strange, bizarre images, such as caricatures, and the like? And the discussion regarding photography and the "camera."

The questioner : Shaykh, the images that are drawn, they are not images—like, for example—of beings with souls; they are caricature images. They might be expressions or things, I mean, for example.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : In the end, it is what you see on television.

The questioner : It is the same, that is fine.

The Shaykh : Ah, well, this is more strictly forbidden. These are . I mean, the ugliness has reached such a point that I do not say this about the disbelievers; the disbelievers have no religion and no creator, but the Muslims—just a few days ago, I saw for the first time humans wearing clothes, clothes of bears, animals, and the like. Do you not like the creation of Allah? , what? And.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh, they do not like the creation of Allah, to the point that they dress it up with a mouth this big and ugly, like the mouth of a frog, and a long tail like the tail of a monkey. It is strange. There is nothing left—without taking offense—except that they show us the "butt" of this monkey! It is very strange. This is more strictly forbidden than these photographic images and others. What do you think now?

The questioner : By Allah, my opinion is the same as yours, O Shaykh...

Another questioner : "A match of the same quality."

The Shaykh : "A match of the same quality."

Another questioner : A question, O Shaykh. We heard from one of the brothers that an image—for example—of a human being, if we enlarge the skull from here significantly, or pull the eyes out, or enlarge the nose, does it remove the prohibition? Because it no longer resembles the image of the creature that Allah created...

Another questioner : In any case.

The questioner : I mean, this method is a trick to turn the image of the human being that Allah created into a caricature, and he says that by this method, it moves away from the prohibition.

The Shaykh : Well, the one who says this must also say that photographing the human being as Allah created him, photographing the human being as Allah created him with the "camera," is permissible, of course. This is what the one who says this means; the one who says this image is permissible, if he photographed the human being with the "camera," it would be better in his view; is that not so?

The questioner : ... He did not speak about the "camera," but he said that the image, if it is given a form other than the natural form, then it becomes free of...

The Shaykh : Well, if it is an image from his imagination... this human being, an image from his imagination, like what we were talking about, what does he say about it?

The questioner : He did not address this topic... but we... it is not mentioned, I mean, because.

The Shaykh : Images, my brother.

The questioner : ... Answer.

The Shaykh : All, all images are forbidden, all images are forbidden, but this is more strictly forbidden; because here there is a change to the creation of Allah, along with the image-making, there is a change to the creation of Allah, and the Messenger says: .
I remember to our brothers on an occasion like this, when I was in elementary school, the math and geometry teacher was skilled in drawing. When the students went out for the break, he would set up a chair and watch; this one is jumping and that one is hitting the other, and so on. He is an artist; next to him is the blackboard. He sees a boy whose picture he likes; come, boy, stand here. He draws for a moment, and the boy's picture appears on the board.

Another questioner : There is no god but Allah.

The Shaykh : Ah, is this permissible? It is not permissible. This is what the Messenger intended: . Now, the "camera" is more precise than this hand-drawn image. Some groups say—may Allah guide us and them—yes, the camera did not exist! Yes, and if it did not exist, is this image not an image? And is this photographer who photographs with the "camera" not a photographer? Yes, the Messenger said: .
Once I debated some of them on this exact point, where they say that this machine did not exist. We said to him: Well, what do you think? Do you know of large factories in Europe that manufacture idols and statues, what do you call them, made of marble, metal, bronze, I do not know what else they call it? Ah? Yes, this is a metal that is melted, poured into a place, a button is pressed, and the idols come out at the end of the line as complete idols, with the press of a button, like the press of a button on the "camera." We said to him: Is this permissible? He said: No. We said to him: Why? He said: These are statues. We said to him: Yes, statues, but the machine was not in the time of the Messenger—(peace be upon him)—our disagreement is not whether this is an image or a statue; our disagreement is that this image was made by a machine that was not in the era of the Messenger. So because it was not in the era of the Messenger, you permitted the image resulting from this machine. So here I have brought you a machine that produces a three-dimensional image; why did you not permit it, even though the machine...