Does the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (that the angels do not enter a house in which there is an image or a dog) include a television image or a toy image?

The questioner : Does the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) include television images as well, and the toys of small children?

The Shaykh : We have no doubt about that if the television images are fixed, meaning that now, for example, there may be events or gatherings or the like via the television that we see, but if these scenes are filmed and saved on a tape and then displayed, there is no difference between these images and photographic images and the like, because all of that is called an image linguistically and by custom. At that point, these images, in all their newly invented means, fall under the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding those who make images and the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the images themselves . So this is the first generality, and this is the other generality, which includes all image-makers, whatever their means of making images, and all images, by whatever means they were made. This is from the perspective of transmission. As for the perspective of reasoning, you all know, if Allah wills, that the Wise Lawgiver, when He forbids something, does so for a profound wisdom. This wisdom may be apparent to some and hidden from many. It is known among the people of knowledge that when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forbade image-making and keeping images, He forbade it for two profound, apparent wisdoms. The first wisdom is from the perspective of blocking the means to harm, preventing people from falling into associating partners with Allah, as happened to the people of Noah (peace be upon him), whose story was mentioned in the surah named after him. Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) related that their stance was toward the command of Noah (peace be upon him) for them to worship Allah alone, where they advised one another and said: It has come in the interpretation of the verse in Sahih al-Bukhari, in the interpretation of Ibn Jarir and Ibn Kathir, and in other Salafi sources, that the reason the people of Noah (peace be upon him) fell into associating partners with Allah and worshipping other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic) was that they began to exalt their righteous people in a manner contrary to the Shari'ah. This narration, some of whose sources we mentioned earlier, states that these five mentioned in the previous verse were righteous servants of Allah. When they died, Satan whispered to them: "Make their graves in the courtyards of your houses." You should be mindful of yourself and not give with your left hand, but rather with your right, perhaps you know the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): An interjected phrase, there is no harm in it! So these were five of the righteous servants of Allah, and Satan whispered to their people: "Bury them in the courtyards of your houses, do not bury them in the graveyards where the general public are buried, so that you may remember them." From here began the idea of erecting statues in public squares, which unfortunately began to spread in some of the lands of Islam in this time. They responded to Satan's whisper and buried them in the courtyards of their houses and left them for a period of time until a second generation came and found their fathers frequenting these graves for the purpose of visiting, or what is called today by some of the dervishes of Muslims for seeking blessing. Satan whispered to them that the continued presence of these graves in this place might be swept away by storms or rains, and their traces would disappear, and these are righteous people, as you know, so their traces must remain forever. So what shall we do? He said: "Carve for them idols, statues." They responded and placed them in a location, and this generation began to frequent this place. Then a third generation came, and he finally whispered to them that it is not fitting for these people except that they be placed in high places befitting their righteousness and their status, and so on. And thus the worship of idols other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic) began through the way of statues. So it was among the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that He forbade image-making, whether it had a shadow or not. This is the first apparent wisdom from the story of the people of Noah with Noah (peace be upon him).
The second wisdom, which is stronger in terms of narration, is the imitation of Allah’s creation. It is reported in Sahih al-Bukhari that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) returned from a journey and intended to enter upon Aisha, he found a curtain there with images on it. He did not enter and stood outside the room. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) hastened to him and said, “O Messenger of Allah, if I have sinned, then I seek Allah’s forgiveness.” He said: She said, “It is a curtain I bought for you,” meaning, “I adorn myself with it for your sake.” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Those who imitate Allah’s creation. Thus, one of the reasons for the prohibition of image-making is that the image-maker imitates the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Here, a brief pause is necessary to refute a contemporary doubt. Many of those who study jurisprudence—and I do not say jurists—in this time claim that one who photographs with a photographic device, such as a camera or video, is not imitating Allah’s creation. Rather, he is utilizing the cosmic causes that Allah created and made easy for humans. Consequently, some have gone so far in imagination and invalidation in their speech to say that the one who photographs with a camera is not the one making the image; rather, the one making the image is Allah, who has captured the shadow. This is a very strange stubbornness that is not hidden from anyone with insight. This is because the issue is the issue of image-making. If we look past the efforts expended in manufacturing this device, which no longer requires a pen, brush, or paint, as they used to employ in the past for image-making, but only a press and a push of a button, I say, Glory be to Allah, this is a very strange stubbornness... - And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings - I say, if this device called a camera were left as is for years without photographing anything, one must first direct the device toward the intended target to be photographed, and then one must press the button. How can it be said that this did not photograph? This is a very strange and extremely strange stubbornness. But the point is that they say these modern means do not contain imitation. In reality, the imitation of Allah’s creation through image-making with these devices is more precise than image-making as it was in the past, whether by brush or carving. If it is agreed upon by scholars, past and present, that three-dimensional images, i.e., idols, are forbidden, not for anything else but because they are three-dimensional and have a shadow, do they imitate Allah’s creation in all aspects? The matter is very clear. This is because this idol is a piece of stone; on the surface, it represents a human being from the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), but in reality, there is nothing inside it that exists in the interior of the human being whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created, formed, and perfected. Thus, likening is the imitation in what appears in the image, whether it is three-dimensional, or on a curtain, or on a wall, or on paper. From here, it appears to us that we are living in some of the rulings we hear in the present age following the pattern of the Zahiri school, the school of Ibn Hazm the Zahiri, who is cited as an example of his extreme adherence to the apparent meanings of texts, an adherence that, as it is said, “makes the widow laugh!” We are now in this age falling into this old apparentism. We are living in a contemporary apparentism. Why? Because the idol is the only forbidden thing, whereas image-making that moves, like video, which you see as if it were a living human being, does not contain imitation of Allah’s creation! But this mute stone, from which you hear no voice and see no lip movement or the like, and no blinking of the eye or the like, does not contain imitation of Allah’s creation. But carving this mute idol is imitation of Allah’s creation. This is an apparentism that is more immersed in adherence to the apparent than the apparentism of Ibn Hazm, who reached the point of saying regarding the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) But if one urinates in an empty vessel and then pours this urine from the vessel into the stagnant water, he did not urinate in the stagnant water! So this is permissible! Glory be to Allah, despite his virtue and knowledge, he is truly a noble man, but Glory be to Allah, Allah did not grant infallibility except to His prophets and messengers. He has other examples of this. For instance, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding a virgin if she is asked for permission in marriage, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is the utmost gentleness from the Wise Lawgiver toward the daughters of the chambers. In the Syrian expression, they would say, “May Allah water them.” In the past, there were virgins who were modest, possessing shyness, and so on. But today, the father asks his daughter, “So-and-so has proposed?” and she says, “I don’t want so-and-so, I want this and I want that,” and so on, with frankness. So our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) inspired His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that it is sufficient in asking a virgin for permission that she is shy and modest, and that she remains silent. What did Ibn Hazm understand from this hadith? He said, “Her permission is her silence.” If she says, “I agree,” it does not take effect! She must remain silent. This is apparentism that does not consider the purpose and objective of this legislation or that legislation. It prohibits urinating in stagnant water, clearly to preserve this stagnant water. Well, what is the benefit of pouring the urine directly or through pipes? We have a river called the Al-Allit River there in Damascus, into which all the filth is discharged. When this impure water reaches a lake of clear water from the sky, whether it is poured directly or through this intermediary.
In summary, we are currently living in this modern superficiality, carving idols with chisels day and night. This is forbidden. I said to one of them, he argued that photography with a camera is permissible because this method did not exist before, and this is not like the previous image-making. I said to him, what do you say about the huge factories today where pressing a button operates very precise machines that produce there dozens, or even hundreds, of static idols? Is this permissible? He said, it is not permissible. I said, but this is like that; this is a method that did not exist, and the idol was found through this method, just as this image was found through a method. The criterion is not the method; the criterion is the goal. What is necessary for the fulfillment of an obligation is itself obligatory. What is the means to a forbidden act is itself forbidden. These are the rules. So if the idol is found carved with a chisel, or through the effort to invent a machine that produces those idols in moments, the result is one, as the result of pouring urine directly into stagnant water or indirectly. If all these images whose methods differ from the methods known in the past are called images, they are covered by the hadith . And those who make these images with these devices are image-makers, and they are all in the Fire, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Once we know this reality, we know that video images, according to the previous explanation, are also among the forbidden things. But as the jurists say, every rule has exceptions, and this is known in the Noble Qur'an . Absolutely? Or is there an exception? . From here, the jurists took the well-known rule: "Necessities permit the prohibited." But due to the precision of their jurisprudence and understanding in observing the previous verse , they added to the previous rule "Necessities permit the prohibited" a very important addition, which is "Necessity is estimated by its degree." It is necessary to combine the added and the added to: "Necessities permit the prohibited" and "Necessity is estimated by its degree." . What does this mean? A man is exposed to death by hunger in the desert and finds the meat of a carrion. Does he take from this meat, roast it, and eat from it as if he were eating from fresh slaughtered meat? No. Rather, only what repels the necessity, meaning what repels his exposure to destruction, is this the meaning of . From here, they added that addition. Yes, necessities permit the prohibited, but not absolutely; rather, necessity is estimated by its degree. What you are necessitated to take, you take; anything beyond that remains on the original ruling, which is forbidden. Now, as we see, unfortunately, people have expanded very much in the use of images until it became part of the entertainments. You find a child of nine years old putting the camera on his shoulder and going here and there, photographing whatever comes to mind and whatever appears to him. This expansion is originally forbidden. But what is the thing that can be excepted from the door of "Necessities permit the prohibited" and "Necessity is estimated by its degree"? We observe now that it is necessary for organizing entry and exit from one country to another, what is known as identities and passports and the like. So here, images are necessary. This type of image can be included in the rule of necessities. And we do not take this only based on this rule, but also from a text in the authentic Sunnah, which opened the door for us to except some images that we see are necessary for us in our contemporary life. I mean what I referred to, the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) regarding her playing with her daughters. It is established in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to send to Aisha, after he married her and she was young, as you know, from her neighbors, from the best of the girls, to play with them with girls' toys, meaning the statues that were made at that time in a domestic manner. And from here we arrive at the statement that these images which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted Aisha to handle, although they are contrary to the rule, we say that a fortiori we permit what is more harmful or more necessary for the Muslim community than the play of the Lady Aisha in her house. This is one thing.
The second thing is that we take from this hadith what relates to the addition I referred to, "Necessity is estimated by its degree." So now, is it permissible for many fathers and mothers to do what they do, which is to buy for their daughters and children toys that come from the lands of disbelief, and are made in a way that represents their customs, morals, and traditions? So you find, for example, a statue of a girl wearing shorts, with her thighs exposed, and she is, for example... All of this, unfortunately, is contrary to the exception we referred to earlier, which is that it was made locally and domestically. In addition to that, it includes the customs and traditions of those countries, such that these small children who play with them may be influenced, and if they grow up with that, they will desire to adorn themselves with those clothes they lived in during their tender years. So from this door as well, it is not permissible to possess images of children and toys called today dolls. I think this completes the answer. Did we miss anything?

The questioner : May Allah reward you for what you have presented. But what is shown on television, sometimes there is a news bulletin that we are forced to see and hear about the conditions of the Muslims. Is that permissible for us or not?

The Shaykh : I answered that if this is first like a mirror, like this mirror you see now, then I see on some winter days the sun setting from here, but I do not preserve this image...

The questioner : Meaning, the television is not seen constantly. As for what is captured and preserved and replayed, that is forbidden...

The Shaykh : And this is what I referred to at the beginning of the speech.

The questioner : Okay, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of yourself.