The Ruling on Photography in Traffic Accidents
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
We work in the traffic accidents department, and we sometimes need to photograph certain traffic accidents to preserve the rights of our fellow citizens. Sometimes people who are present at the scene of the accident end up in the photograph. What is the ruling on this?
There is nothing wrong with this work; because it is photography for a benefit, or rather for a pressing need or dire necessity. It does no harm if the photograph of this location includes people who are not parties to the accident. It is well known that photography by camera is not what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended, in our view; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) only cursed the painters who compete with the creation of Allah, those who are the creators of the image,Meaning: the doers of the image. As for capturing images with the (photographic) machine, that is not the work of the creator. He did not design the eye, the nose, the lip, the forehead, or the head. The most he does is preserve this image, which is the work of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in this card. What indicates this is that if you wrote a letter to a person by hand, then this letter was put into the photography machine and came out,Can it be said: would you say that this writing is the work of the machine? No.
It is the writing of the first person, but it was preserved by the materials that people have now developed in the card; so it does not fall under photography at all.
But if a person photographs with the (photographic) machine that is instant, which he keeps with him and collects, then that is forbidden. Not because of its essence, but because of the intended purpose; which is collecting the image without a dire necessity. The purpose you intend by photographing accidents is a correct purpose, and a matter that is necessary.
There is nothing wrong with this work; because it is photography for a benefit, or rather for a pressing need or dire necessity. It does no harm if the photograph of this location includes people who are not parties to the accident. It is well known that photography by camera is not what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended, in our view; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) only cursed the painters who compete with the creation of Allah, those who are the creators of the image,Meaning: the doers of the image. As for capturing images with the (photographic) machine, that is not the work of the creator. He did not design the eye, the nose, the lip, the forehead, or the head. The most he does is preserve this image, which is the work of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in this card. What indicates this is that if you wrote a letter to a person by hand, then this letter was put into the photography machine and came out,Can it be said: would you say that this writing is the work of the machine? No.
It is the writing of the first person, but it was preserved by the materials that people have now developed in the card; so it does not fall under photography at all.
But if a person photographs with the (photographic) machine that is instant, which he keeps with him and collects, then that is forbidden. Not because of its essence, but because of the intended purpose; which is collecting the image without a dire necessity. The purpose you intend by photographing accidents is a correct purpose, and a matter that is necessary.