What is the ruling on image-making, and is there a difference between an image that has a shadow and images that do not have a shadow? (And an explanation of the cause for the prohibition of images)

The questioner : What is the ruling on image-making, and is there a difference between images that have a shadow and those that do not?

The Shaykh : This issue is one of the matters in which Muslims continue to differ. They divide images into two categories: three-dimensional images that have a shadow, and non-three-dimensional images that do not have a shadow. This division undoubtedly takes reality into account, but did the Wise Lawgiver distinguish between one reality and another? No Muslim today, no Islamic caller today, is unaware of the hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim in their authentic collections from the hadith of the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a journey, and when he returned and wanted to enter, he stopped outside the house. Aisha hurried to him and said, "O Messenger of Allah, if you have committed a sin, I seek forgiveness from Allah." He said: The qirami is a curtain with images on it. She said, "I bought it for you, O Messenger of Allah," meaning to welcome you and adorn the house with your arrival. He said, (peace and blessings be upon him): Was this image three-dimensional? No. It was engraved on the fabric; it was not an idol. The idol is what they describe as three-dimensional. As for an image on fabric, on paper, or on a wall that has no shadow, that is not three-dimensional. So this image was not three-dimensional; rather, it was embroidered or painted, as you see today on many clothes. Reflect now on the calamity of the Islamic world with these fatwas issued by some people who are not scholars, certainly not jurists. They are intellectuals, but not every intellectual is a scholar, and not every intellectual is a jurist. The jurist is the one about whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: These people take some texts that support their views and turn away from other texts that contradict their views. This hadith exists in the authentic collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim, so how did they get out of it? They said that at that time, the Messenger (peace be upon him) prohibited even these non-three-dimensional images that have no shadow because they were newly converted from shirk (associating partners with Allah). To cut off the root of shirk between these Muslims and shirk, he prohibited the image entirely, whether it was three-dimensional or not, out of fear and concern that it would be worshipped besides Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is embellishment of speech. Why? Because the hadiths that came regarding the prohibition of images are Medinan, and the Medinan period, as you all know, I think, if Allah wills, is the stage that followed the Meccan period in which the Messenger (peace be upon him) called to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and fought shirk in all its types and forms and by all means. Among that, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited these Muslims in the Meccan period from visiting the graves of Muslims, but in the Medinan period, he said to them: In this period, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited image-making in all its forms and types, whether it was three-dimensional with a shadow or non-three-dimensional without a shadow, in the Medinan period, not the Meccan period. The hadith of the qirami and others, and many, many hadiths. They said, "So the Messenger prohibited that for them out of care for their creed." Do you think such talk is reasonable? That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in the house of Prophethood, in the house of Aisha, to whom he said one day in Medina, in her house, "O Aisha," She said, "Upon you and him (peace be upon him), O Messenger of Allah, you see what we do not see." Did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) fear for the Lady Aisha that if this image, this qirami, remained in her house, she would return to shirk? She was never a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) in her life, because she was born in Islam. So he (peace be upon him) feared for her that she would return to shirk and therefore warned her about this qirami, about this image. If we were to assume, for the sake of argument, and this assumption is false, when, O Muslims, when did these images become permissible? If in the Medinan period, in the house of Prophethood and Messengership, it was forbidden, then in what time did it become lawful? In the era of the twentieth century, where the taghut (tyrants) are spread throughout the world, and they want to return Muslims to the previous polytheism? And you must know a historical, cosmic, natural truth: evil does not spread among people in a sudden burst, but it proceeds slowly, as that Arab poet said in the time of the Abbasid state, the mother of the Umayyad state. The important point is:
I see a crack in the embers and a flicker of fire, *** And it is likely that it will soon have a blaze.
For the fire is kindled from two sticks, *** And war begins with words.
Thus evil comes slowly. And so it was the perfection of the Islamic Shari'ah that it came with two types of legislation: forbidden in itself, and forbidden for something else. He prohibited every means that is not forbidden in itself, but rather because it may lead to something forbidden in itself. We know for certain that any Muslim who takes a pin and dips it in khamr (intoxicants) and does this, that drop of khamr that clings to the head of the pin does not affect it. But this is forbidden. Why? Because that drop may be followed by a drop and a drop, and so on. Just as we know for certain that the first glance at you and the second is upon you, if you direct your second glance to a woman who is not lawful for you, this glance certainly did not harm you, nor did it cause any harm to the woman you looked at. And yet he said: And he said: in the other hadith. Why? Because this glance may be followed by a glance, and a glance followed by another, and it is not enough, as Shawqi said in his famous poetry.
"A glance, then a smile, then a greeting, then a conversation, then an appointment, then a meeting." This is what he took from his saying (peace be upon him) . When He forbade these preliminary matters so that they do not lead to the end, which is zina, the greatest of major sins, the Messenger (peace be upon him) forbade images in all their forms, fearing that people would return to worshipping images and idols, as happened in the first age of ignorance. Is it possible for such a thing to happen? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us and said: . So major shirk will inevitably return to people over time. Does this shirk come all at once, or does it come gradually, as we mentioned earlier: "I see the flicker of fire in the ashes"? From this flicker come the fatwas of today, which distinguish between three-dimensional images and non-three-dimensional images. The hadiths make no distinction whatsoever between any image; there is no difference between three-dimensional and non-three-dimensional. It is sufficient for you to hear his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . The word "image" in the language of you Arabs does not mean three-dimensional or non-three-dimensional; they are all images. Likewise, it is sufficient for you to hear his saying (peace be upon him): . It is not necessary for the image-maker to be a sculptor using a chisel and hammer. No. An image-maker is one who makes images by hand, by carving, by photographic machine, or by pressing a button on a machine that produces dozens of idols. All of these are called image-makers. . Allahu Akbar. If the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as we said in some lectures—I do not know if some of the attendees in this town or this place heard us once say regarding his saying (peace be upon him) —that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to repeat this rule, this general principle, in every sermon he delivered. This repetition means that he intended to implant this belief in the minds of the listeners as a general principle: every bid'ah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. So when you see the Messenger in all the hadiths using general terms and not specifying, saying: . Yet we say with complete calm, colder than the blood of the English: not every image is forbidden, and not every image-maker [is forbidden]. Why? Because of a doubt that arose for them. And this involves renewal and there is a benefit in acquiring images. If this benefit exists, Islam does not forbid them. There is nothing, as he said (peace be upon him), . And in another hadith: . These are all the prophets, so what about the master of the prophets? He has guided us to the best and most excellent thing to present as a methodology for Muslims who want to live a good life. So now, if we say there is a benefit in acquiring some images, do we not have evidence? Yes, we have evidence. But this evidence is not permissible to use to abolish the general principle, as some do in abolishing every bid'ah that is misguidance. They come to the hadith , they distort it with a bad understanding, and they nullify the general principle that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) implanted in the hearts of his Companions: every bid'ah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. Now . Is it permissible for an image-maker to take a picture, for example, of a criminal thief to be placed in a place in the justice system, for example in a police station or the like, so that it is easy for those tracking these people who harm Muslims and steal their money, for example, or the killers who shed blood, to have their pictures taken? We say yes, this is permissible. But that images become permissible for people, so that you meet a small child walking in the street carrying what is called a camera—this is what Islam has made permissible? We have taken it and we have become such that we pray on Friday and in front of us is a young man with a picture on the back of his shirt of a woman with frizzy hair, or a bear, or a lion, or other animals. Images have entered even the mosques. And not only that, they have entered the mosques. And here we connect our speech to the question, thatThe questioner : we must gather and not separate. We say that images have now entered the mosques: such-and-such a leader, such-and-such a martyr, and so on. All the images are in the mosques. . Through these twisted ways of smoothing out some of the violations of the Shari'ah with good intentions, major shirk entered the people of Noah (peace be upon him) and those before them, as our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) indicated in His saying: . These, as Ibn Abbas said, were righteous servants of Allah. These were a righteous group, worshippers of Allah. They died, and then Satan came to their followers and said: "It is not permissible for you to bury them in any place. These people have a history with you, a reputation, an influence. So do not bury them in your public graveyards. Bury them in front of your houses." They responded and buried them in special places. Then they left them for a generation. Then he came to the second generation and said: "As you know from what has been reported to you from your fathers, these were righteous people... The graves may be swept away by floods and storms. So what do we do?" They made for them idols. They carved idols for them. They did so and placed them in a place. Then he came to the third generation and said: "These idols, as you know, represent righteous people. It is not fitting for you to place them in any place. You must place them in places that befit them." They did so. Then the last generation came, and behold, vows and prostration and the like, until Noah (peace be upon him) was sent to these people who worshipped these five besides Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And thus evil comes, as we mentioned, gradually. In the name of the fact that there are benefits in images in some aspects, we open the door wide and say that images were forbidden from the perspective of sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm), and now we no longer fear shirk. Knowing that shirk still exists among the Muslims, not among the Soviets, or the Germans, or the British, but among the Muslims. There are still people who call for aid to other than Allah and call upon 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani who is in Iraq, and Batah al-Jamal who is in Sham, and so on. Subhan Allah. We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to inspire us with guidance and to teach us our religion.