The Ruling on Image-Making

The Shaykh : What kind of philosophy has entered into some of the Muslim scholars, let alone others, that they have permitted image-making absolutely? They permit it because it is mechanical image-making, and they forbid them another type of image-making; why? Because it is manual image-making. Both fall under the general terms of the hadiths mentioned previously. A discussion took place between me and one of them regarding this issue, and it appeared from his speech that he was superficially modern in this matter. I debated him, and among the things I replied to him with, I asked him: What do you say about those huge factories where, with the press of an electric button, idols are produced in various shapes and colors? Some of these idols are made of plastic, rubber, or the like, and the markets of the Muslims are filled with them as toys for children, and more than that. There are workshops where, by means of huge machines, idols are produced that are more beautiful than the idols that the actor and sculptor work on carving! I said to him: What do you say about these idols that we see, for example, placed on some seats or tables? Perhaps all of you remember an example of that. We see, for instance, from the misguidance of the misguided among the Christians, that they make an image of a woman, naturally in a state of tabarruj (display of adornment), with a dog behind her. What is the material of this image? Is it stone, or copper, or another metal? How was this made? Did the sculptor work on it day and night? No, rather, with the press of the button, the machine produces, in one minute, what Allah wills of these idols. I said to him: What is your opinion of these idols? Are they haram (forbidden) or halal (lawful)? He thought for a moment, and he had no choice but to say: This is haram. We said: But the means is different, just as the means of photographic image-making is different. He was at a loss and did not know what to say! And this is the certainty: that it is not permissible to distinguish between one idol and another; because he knows that one was made with a chisel and a mallet, carved by hand, and the other was not carved in that way, but by machine. This is a detestable, superficial modernism!
Some of them once claimed to have narrated a fictional story to clarify this issue with which we have been afflicted in the present age. He said: They claimed that a noble scholar visited a student of his at his home. When he sat down, he saw his image hanging on the wall in front of him. He sawThe Shaykh : his image hanging on the wall, so he said to his student: My son, how many times have I taught you that image-making is haram? So why have you placed my image in the most prominent place? He said: O honorableThe Shaykh : , I did that out of love for you, and as a reminder of your knowledge and your character, and so on. He said: No, this is not permissible, and this is haram – may Allah bless you – and the angels do not enter your house. So the pious student quickly took down the image. Days passed and days came, and then heThe Shaykh : returned to visit his student again, and he saw the image in its place! He said to him: What is the matter with you, so-and-so? Did I not advise you and remind you, and you accepted the advice and took down the image? He said: O my master, this image is a photographic image, and that one was a manual image, and we learned from you to distinguish between the two images. So he pattedThe Shaykh : his student on the shoulder and said to him: May Allah bless you, you have become a jurist.
This is the jurisprudence of the present age: being rigid on appearances without looking at the objectives. If we know that there is no difference between manual images and photographic images, and consequently no difference between photographic images and television images, if the expression is correct, all of this falls under the generality of: , whoever makes an image . If we know this reality, we return to say: Is there no outlet for this age to permit some images, especially if scientific necessity requires it, or if a pressing need demands it? I say: Yes, this exists. Our evidence for that is the hadith of Aisha regarding her daughters and the images with which she and her female neighbors played. It came in more than one hadith from the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to send the daughters of Aisha’s neighbors to her to play with her with girls’ toys. Once, he (peace and blessings be upon him) came in and found among her toys a horse, an image of a horse with two wings. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): She said: “O Messenger of Allah, has it not reached you that the horses of Sulayman had wings?” So he (peace and blessings be upon him) laughed.
We derived from this hadith a rukhsah (dispensation) for girls’ toys, and that this dispensation is an exception from the generality of those hadiths; whether they include every image-maker, or whether they include every image that prevents the angels from entering. If this is known and established in the "Sahihayn" (the two authentic collections), and I had detailed the discussion of this issue to some extent in my book "Etiquette of the Wedding in the Pure Sunnah," warning against acquiring images on the occasion of marriage in the present age, and then I addressed the toys of the Lady Aisha, and I said: They are an exception from those general evidences. If this is mentioned in the authentic Sunnah, then we can benefit from this exception to publish images that are necessary, and where there is a pressing need to display them. As for this expansion that has spread and overflowed the lands, even in purely Islamic scientific magazines, images are mentioned there on the slightest occasion, an image for example of the writer of the article, an image of the one who was asked and answered. Why this image? What is the necessity? Knowing that such images may invalidate the deeds of the photographed, let alone the deeds of the photographers. As for the fact that they may invalidate the deeds of the photographers from these people; that is for what is known, and I referred to it tonight after the 'Isha' prayer, that this exposes oneself to the invalidation of his work; because he does not write and does not answer except out of love for appearing, and love of appearance cuts off appearance. This is my answer to that question.
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This question, in truth, is also from the affliction of this present age. He saysThe questioner: Some of them say: That photographic image-making does not contain that 'illah (operative cause) which was explicitly mentioned in some of the authentic hadiths; namely, the imitation of the creation of Allah...
...with these evidences from this authentic hadith: , and they say: The imitation only occurs in the image or manual image-making, whereas in photographic image-making there is no imitation. And I am greatly astonished at this fallacy, and I ask myself: I wonder if they are mistaken, or if they are pretending to be mistaken while knowing that it is contrary to what they think? That is because among the attributes of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) is what He said in more than one verse in the Noble Qur'an: . So which of the two images is closer in likeness and imitation to the creation of Allah? The image on which the image-maker remains day and night, making a mistake here and correcting it there; hardly do moments or hours pass for him without him making an amendment to what he corrected, and so on until the image is straight in his view. Is this more of an imitation of Allah in His saying to the thing , or is it the press of the button, and when the image appears in the best possible way of image-making?
There is no doubt that this is a stronger form of imitating the creation of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is one point. The other point is that the artist, even the one who makes an idol or a three-dimensional statue, what does he depict? He depicts the external appearance of the human being. As for the internal aspects, namely the brain, the veins, the capillaries, and so on, of the fine creation of Allah, the heart, the stomach, and so forth, they are unable to depict these. Therefore, the imitation mentioned by the Messenger (peace be upon him) in the hadith refers to this external image, not true imitation. Humans will absolutely never be able to reach that level. So, if we pay attention to this point, the imitation in a photographic image is much stronger than a hand-drawn image, or a sculpture made with a chisel and hammer, and the like. This is from one perspective. From another perspective, it has been hidden from those who stopped at this cause, which is the cause of imitation. We believe that there is another cause, and we can be more precise if we say that there is another wisdom in the prohibition by the Wise Lawgiver of image-making and images, which is that it was a cause for worshipping other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), as mentioned in the books of tafsir under His saying (Exalted is He) regarding the people of Noah (peace be upon him), where He related about them: , He said (Exalted is He): ...
... your minds forever. So when you buried them with the masses of the dead, their memory did not remain in your minds. Therefore, Satan inspired them to place their graves in the courtyards of their houses, and they did so. Then he left them for a generation of time, then he came to them and said: I advise you to make idols for these five righteous men, so that their memory remains concentrated and fixed in your thoughts, because these graves may be affected by storms from the sky, or rains, or floods, and they will be gone, and then no trace of them will remain. So they also accepted his advice, and Satan has never advised a human being for good. So they made and carved idols for these five, and he left them for another generation, then he came to them and said: You must make a place for these idols that befits their status and your trust in them. So they made a house for the idols and placed them in a high place. That generation passed away, and a new generation came, and he inspired them that these idols were placed in this place because they deserve greatness and worship. So they began to prostrate to them and worship them other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent Noah (peace be upon him) to this generation that had fallen into shirk (associating partners with Allah) and the worship of these five. What was their stance? As you heard in the previous verse: and so on. So idols and image-making were a cause for worshipping other than Allah. When the Messenger (peace be upon him) prohibited images and statues, the wisdom was not limited only to it being an imitation of the creation of Allah, but also because it was a cause for worshipping other than Allah and associating partners with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Therefore, even if we hypothetically accept the claim of these people that there is no imitation of the creation of Allah in photographic image-making, the second cause remains valid and continuing.
Then, on this occasion as well: some people say that people have not remained as they were; they have become cultured and alert, and they no longer fall into any of this shirk (associating partners with Allah) that the previous nations fell into. This is another form of stubbornness! Whoever studies, I do not say the conditions, but the state of some polytheists in Russia, for example, where until recently the grave of Lenin and the grave of Stalin existed, and Muslims would circumambulate them just as Muslims circumambulate the Sacred Ka'bah. Is there any worship greater than this?!
But I say: We do not speak about the disbelievers, for there is no sin after disbelief. But why do we be stubborn and say that no one remains who associates partners with Allah (Mighty and Majestic)? While we still find in many lands of the Muslims, in Egypt, in Syria, and elsewhere, that disbelief is still doing its work in the houses of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). The mosque that contains a grave is sought for prayer in it, and it is preferred over the mosque that does not contain a grave. The graves that are claimed to contain the graves of the righteous servants of Allah are sought, and they are called upon for aid and help other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). All of this is a reality and is known in many lands. And although your land, by the grace of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) first, and then by the grace of the call of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab second, has been purified from the filth of shirk, this shirk is still rampant in many of the lands I mentioned, and in others as well.
We know that in Aleppo, which is the second capital of Syria after Damascus, there was a grave whose name is enough for you to know what was happening there in terms of harm and paganism. Its name is the grave of "The Judge of Needs"!! The grave is named: "The Judge of Needs"!! And people would visit it to make vows to it. And what is amazing and misguided is that some women, the barren woman who had been married for a long time and had not been granted a child, Satan adorned it for them and said to them: This grave is the Judge of Needs. If the woman comes and sits on the hump of the grave, the grave is known; if she rides the grave and rubs herself like this a little, she will go away pregnant. That is the far deviation. Then the matter was exposed; the caretaker of this grave was wicked; he would adorn for the woman to spend that night with them so that the spirit of "The Judge of Needs" would come to her, so he would be the judge of her need!! And she would go from him pregnant!! And so on, it is a very strange and amazing matter!! And yet some people philosophize and say: There is no longer a fear that Muslims will be afflicted with any of this shirk, because Muslims now, what Allah willed, have awakened, and it is well. It was narrated in "Sahih al-Bukhari" from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . This is a hadith in "Sahih al-Bukhari". So the meaning of this is that Muslims are facing a shirk that is embodied and magnified. Therefore, we must hold fast to all the Shari'ah rulings, among which is the prohibition of image-making from the perspective of sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm), not only from the perspective of imitating the creation of Allah, but also from the perspective of sadd al-dhara'i' between Muslims and their reaching the exaltation of other than the Lord of the Worlds.
This is what I have in answer to this question.