What is the ruling on photographic imaging?

The Shaykh : ... many, many images, but researching this requires a lecture, or even more than that; where he says: I hope you will clarify the ruling on photographic imaging?
... photographic imaging, this is the last question and the last answer ... photographic imaging is a calamity that has also befallen the Muslims, and no one can dispute or argue against this; because what they call cameras, the imaging devices, have become in the possession of every young man, and the photographer is more than ... and it is a calamity without a doubt, and although this calamity can be [managed] under some circumstances and conditions ... television and the like, but we must know that everything called imaging is forbidden except out of necessity, and the study of necessity has its own specific study, for the hadiths were mass-transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the prohibition of imaging and keeping images, and he emphasized this with extreme emphasis and said: , and I do not think you need me to list many hadiths on the prohibition for you; because I know that you must have heard a lot of that, but the problem is the modern philosophy that is broadcast today through many means, including the radio, the magazine, the newsletter, and the like, the problem today is distinguishing between the images that were known in the past, which were ... the image was either a drawing or a sculpture.
Today we have been afflicted with this device, the imaging device, and it was reported from some scholars to distinguish between what is imaged by this device and what is imaged by hand, as we mentioned; this distinction has no basis, neither in text nor in reason and consideration, as for the text, as you heard just now, he says: , so when we say: so-and-so imaged this weed or this ... or this image or this room, then this is an image and this is an imager, and the Messenger, when he speaks and talks in clear Arabic with conciseness and inimitability, he said: ; meaning: whatever image it is, by whatever device, by whatever means.
And it is strange that some people today ... what did the Messenger know that in the end of times a device would occur that with the press of a button the image would appear in an instant, what did he know? We say simply: the Messenger did not know anything, but Allah taught him everything that befits his station of prophethood and messengership; therefore I disapprove most strongly of ... this question from a Muslim who says: what did he know? As if he did not read the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): ; so the answer to what did he know? Revelation from the sky is what informed him, what did he know? He said (peace be upon him): ; what did he know? , He is the one who informed him. Therefore this question does not come except from one who is heedless, so I say: includes every image, and our distinction between hand-drawn images or photographic images is a foreign philosophy in Islam.
So the following example that comes to my mind on this occasion may help you to understand this ... I say by way of a joke and ... the topic: they claimed that a noble Shaykh visited a student of his in his house, when he sat ... he saw in the front of the place an image ... so he reproached his student and said to him: you are a righteous student and a good seeker of knowledge, and so on, and you attended my lessons and heard my sermons and ... and among them he said to him: , here is the secret in ... I took it as a means to expel the angels of mercy and let in Satan, he said: I swear to Allah, O Shaykh ... he hastened and took down the image, and a time passed, then the Shaykh returned and visited him a second time, and he saw the image in its place, so he said to him: my brother, I advised you ... and you accepted and took down the image before me; so what is the matter that you returned to it? ... this image is like those images, this image is like those images. He said: may Allah bless you; you are a jurist ... why? Because the previous image was a hand-drawn image, and the new image is a photographic image, my people, all roads lead to the mill; this image is the sister of that one, whether it was imaged by hand directly or by the device on which its inventor spent long years until he was able to ... and presses a button on it and the image appears more excellent than the image on which its owner perhaps spent days and nights, this I say is a modern superficiality.
And by my saying: modern superficiality, I mean scientific speech; because there is among the schools of the Muslims the school of the Zahiris, like Ibn Hazm and others, these have very strange opinions in jurisprudence, I will mention to you the jurisprudence of one issue and there are many examples: one of them says regarding his saying (peace be upon him) or in his hadith (peace be upon him) which Abu Hurayrah narrated, he said: "The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited urinating in stagnant water," we have the text of the hadith like this: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited urinating in stagnant water," stagnant water that is standing and not flowing, the Messenger prohibited this, and this prohibition is at the height of wisdom regarding urinating in this water; to preserve either its purity ... and its cleanliness; so what did this Zahiri say? He said: if one urinates in a vessel, then pours what is in the vessel into the water, it is permissible; why? Because this does not apply to him that he urinated in stagnant water!! My brother, this one urinated in the vessel, he did not urinate in stagnant water, Glory be to Allah!! But all roads lead to the mill; whether he urinated in stagnant water directly or urinated in a vessel then poured this urine into stagnant water, the water became contaminated or impure, one of the two, this was in the past, about 800 years, 900 years.
But today we have been afflicted with this kind of jurisprudential rigidity, if the image is hand-drawn it is forbidden, it is not permissible to image it and it is not permissible to bring it into the house, the angels flee, but this image, if it is imaged by the photographic device, then this is lawful; what is the difference? Only the difference in the means, the first was imaged by hand and the other by the device; although it is by hand as well, but what differed? The image, also in the hadith ... the form of the image differed between urinating in stagnant water directly and urinating by means, but the goal was achieved; therefore the majority of scholars ... the interpretation ... said: the Messenger prohibited urinating in stagnant water; because this is the custom, a person comes who is not careful and says: this is a lot of water, directly what? He pours the urine in it ... he runs this urine over this water ... a person comes after you to benefit from it or perform ablution or so on, he did not address the issue that that Zahiri jurist imagined, urinating in a vessel ... the image; because it is rare, but if it happens there is no difference between this and that; therefore he said (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) and I fear that this saying falls into the following, those who distinguish between the hand-drawn image and the photographic image, he said (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him): , what is the meaning of the hadith? It is possible ... upon some people, the Jews, may Allah curse them, for many reasons, among them for this reason ... what is it?
The hadith refers to some Qur'anic verses: , Among them are the fats of livestock. They would slaughter a sheep or a cow for the fat... because they wronged themselves, so Allah punished them by forbidding them some of the good things. So what did the Jews do? They took these fats and put them in the pots, and lit the fire underneath them, so they flowed and melted, and took on another form. So they sold them and ate them, and ate their price. What is their argument? My brother, this is not that; that is the natural fat. This one has undergone processing, it has taken on a second form. So they deserved the curse of Allah in this... There are many things, we do not go into the details, but I want to distinguish that the deception in making permissible what Allah has forbidden is ancient. So this is one form and this is another form, put... with each other... this is the image of Zayd and this is the image of Zayd, and this is it in itself, but what is the difference? The means. Allah does not look at these means; He looks at the ends. Just as if you depicted a naked woman - for example - there is no disagreement about its prohibition; did you depict it with your hand or with your machine? What is the result? The result is one. So do not be misled by what you hear today of fatwas on many occasions that photographic depiction is lawful; rather, it is forbidden. If something of it is permissible, it is also permissible for hand-drawn depiction. And if this thing that they permitted in photographic depiction is forbidden in hand-drawn depiction, and it is also forbidden in photographic depiction.
And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.