From the explanation of the book "Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib," clarifying the error of the author who stated that the prohibition of images is specific to three-dimensional ones and no others

The Shaykh : This second change came from the aforementioned author, who is one of the scholars of Al-Azhar. He introduced a change that is astonishing in its extremity, and this is what I meant when I said: The Jews preceded us in this kind of deception. He wrote an article long ago, when "Al-Azhar Magazine" was published under the title "Light of Islam." In it, he wrote an article mentioning the schools of thought regarding the prohibited image. There are two schools: the school that prohibits images in general, as indicated by the previous definition, and the second school, which is narrated from Imam Malik, holds that the prohibited images are only three-dimensional ones. This author, without paying attention to these hadiths or studying them in depth, adopted Malik’s school, which undoubtedly contradicts these hadiths. He adopted this school, which states that only three-dimensional images are prohibited, for a purpose of his own. Then, after this first step where he deviated from the previous hadiths, he arrived at other very dangerous foundations that he used to abolish all schools of thought, even Malik’s school. He fabricated the following issue by combining Malik’s school, which also prohibits three-dimensional images along with the majority of scholars, and the scholars’ statement that if an image’s form is altered, it becomes lawful. He combined these two statements to formulate the following issue:
Based on that, if the artist—and he says "artist!"—carves an idol, in order to escape the prohibition, he digs a small hole in the top of its head until it reaches the brain. In this state, this idol represents a human being who does not live, because it is not called what? A human being, since it has a hole reaching its brain. He says: But this is a defect in the statue from an artistic standpoint. So he teaches the artists—may Allah will it!—to place a wig on the head of the statue, so that the statue appears artistically in its most complete and beautiful form. And by that, this sculptor escapes contradicting the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Do you know of any Jew who deceived the prohibitions of Allah like this Al-Azhari man? This is a fulfillment of the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): . This is a deception that some scholars have suffered from in the present age. Undoubtedly, those who read that corrupt man’s article—and they are from the masses of people who do not know these hadiths or their jurisprudence—get entangled in his explanation and proceed to carving and image-making, and they deceive regarding it with such a trick that a student, or even a sheikh of Iblis, learned. This is a distortion.
And of this type—and it is a greater affliction, though less in deception than the previous one—is the distinction between hand-drawn images and photographic images, or the distinction between images drawn with a pen or brush and images taken with a camera. This distinction is rarely avoided by a scholar in the present age, due to the widespread trial of people with this device and its images. They say—those who distinguish between the camera and permit image-making with it, and between image-making with a brush—... and it is astonishing what they say: that this device, first of all, did not exist in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); therefore, its users and the one who takes images with it do not fall under the generality of the previous hadiths, including his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . Therefore, this photographer with the device does not fall under the generality of the hadith. Why? They claim because the device and the one who uses it did not exist in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
My wonder at such words hardly ends, especially when they come from scholars. It is expected of these scholars that they always and forever remember that what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the hadiths is not from his own independent reasoning or opinion, but rather, as our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: . So when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: , Muslims in general, and scholars in particular, must realize that this speech is not from himself, , but rather he received it from the revelation of the sky from his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). He only formulated it with his own words, but the meaning is from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So it is as if Allah is the one saying: ; because the Messenger does not legislate for people from himself. And I confirm for you that this is supported by one of the previous hadiths of Abu Hurayrah, in which he narrated from his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) that He said: . So this is the speech of Allah. It was mentioned in the reason for Abu Hurayrah’s narration of this hadith that he passed by an artist who was drawing images in the palace of one of the Banu Umayyah, drawing an image on the walls, so he narrated this hadith to him.
Those images, too—even if we imagine them to be useful and prominent, but not, in the expression of the jurists, three-dimensional with a shadow—therefore, when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: , he only received this meaning from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And he explicitly stated in some hadiths that it is Allah who rebukes the artists for their image-making and admonishes them. Who dares to rival Allah (Mighty and Majestic) by going and creating like the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as He said (Exalted is He): ?! So when he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , this is from the revelation of the sky. Is it strange for the revelation of the sky—that is, for Allah (Mighty and Majestic)—to reveal to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a general ruling that includes details that have not yet come? If we keep this reality in mind, there is no strangeness in the fact that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), when he said: , also meant the photographers who were not in his time (peace and blessings be upon him); because it is Allah who inspired him to say this comprehensive general word, even for photographers with the photographic device.