What is the ruling on pictures if they are for remembrance, and what is the best way to get rid of them?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you. The questioner asks: What is the ruling on pictures if they are for remembrance? And what is the best way to get rid of them?
The Shaykh : The best way to get rid of them is to pour gasoline on them and burn them. This is the best method, because keeping pictures for other than a legitimate Shari'ah interest or a pressing need is forbidden. Indeed, the angels do not enter a house in which there is a picture. As for what some people do, saying, "I keep it for remembrance," what is this remembrance? What do you remember? If the person photographed is your small child, remembering them after they have grown up is better than remembering them when they were children, so there is no need for remembrance. And if the remembrance is for the sake of exalting the person, it is an even greater affliction, because some people photograph their father, and when he dies, they hang his picture in the sitting room to exalt him. This is the affliction. Know that one of the origins of worshipping other than Allah is image-making, as mentioned in the story of the people of Noah. The origin of their worship was that there were righteous men among them, and when they died, they said, "Perhaps we should make statues of them to remember their state." When time passed, they worshipped these statues. In conclusion, we have given the brother questioner, may Allah reward him with good, the best way to get rid of these pictures. What is it? To pour gasoline on them and burn them, and be done with them. Yes.
The Shaykh : The best way to get rid of them is to pour gasoline on them and burn them. This is the best method, because keeping pictures for other than a legitimate Shari'ah interest or a pressing need is forbidden. Indeed, the angels do not enter a house in which there is a picture. As for what some people do, saying, "I keep it for remembrance," what is this remembrance? What do you remember? If the person photographed is your small child, remembering them after they have grown up is better than remembering them when they were children, so there is no need for remembrance. And if the remembrance is for the sake of exalting the person, it is an even greater affliction, because some people photograph their father, and when he dies, they hang his picture in the sitting room to exalt him. This is the affliction. Know that one of the origins of worshipping other than Allah is image-making, as mentioned in the story of the people of Noah. The origin of their worship was that there were righteous men among them, and when they died, they said, "Perhaps we should make statues of them to remember their state." When time passed, they worshipped these statues. In conclusion, we have given the brother questioner, may Allah reward him with good, the best way to get rid of these pictures. What is it? To pour gasoline on them and burn them, and be done with them. Yes.