The Shaykh’s mention of his discussion with Sa'id Ramadan of the Muslim Brotherhood regarding the issue of photography.
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The Shaykh : Have you heard of Sa'id Ramadan?
The questioner : I know him.
The Shaykh : Do you know him personally?
The questioner : I know him.
The Shaykh : Very good, where was he?
The questioner : In al-Dawsh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : In al-Dawsh.
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : al-Bouti.
The Shaykh : No, Sa'id Ramadan is from the Muslim Brotherhood.
The questioner : I do not know him.
The Shaykh : The one from the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Bouti, al-Bouti, Dr. al-Bouti, no, Sa'id Ramadan. This is, as the Muslim Brotherhood describe him, the "Hawari" (disciple) of Hasan al-Banna, his special student.
The questioner: Yes.
The student : Yes, he is in Iraq now, it seems to me.
The Shaykh : No, he was in Switzerland, and then this man passed away. He was a eloquent mosque preacher, and truly, he captivated minds when he preached. The youth had a style of his; he would carry a noble Quran in his pocket. When he addressed the audience, he would look at the Quran and say, "This is the Book of Allah, it says so and so," and so on. The point is, he visited Damascus about twenty or thirty years ago, so I sat with him in a room at the Muslim Brotherhood center. The topic of the image was raised, and the Muslim Brotherhood all consider photographic images permissible. Hasan al-Banna’s halls were all decorated with his picture, and the Guide al-Hudaybi, and I do not know what is behind it?
The questioner : Handmade.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : And handmade as well.
The Shaykh : The point is, we sat and opened this topic, and he mentioned that this is "capturing the shadow." Capturing the shadow is not photography. We spoke with him, may Allah will it, and so on. I said to him, "What is your opinion here? What is your opinion now on the huge factories that the disbelievers have established, where with the press of a button, the raw material becomes liquid plastic here, and there come out idols in shapes and colors, called 'girls' toys,' do you know them? Yes, idols carved from stone, or from bronze, from Druze, and so on. What is your opinion? Is this permissible or forbidden?" He had no choice but to say it is forbidden. I said, "But this is like that; it is just a button press, no carving, no bringing of a chisel to chip away at it, and it becomes a sale, just like what happened with that skilled Italian painter, I forgot his name, he was a skilled painter."
The questioner : Da Vinci, my Shaykh, Leonardo Da Vinci.
The Shaykh : Perhaps that is the one.
The questioner : The one who did the Mona Lisa.
The Shaykh : No, look, what is his story? He carved an idol for one of the great ones, and it looked as if it were alive. Because of how much he was taken with its beauty, he said to it, "Speak." It did not speak, so he broke it, heh heh, after the great effort. Now, the long story short, I said to him, "These idols now come to us by the dozens and hundreds with the press of a button, not like that Italian who sat for hours, or days, or perhaps months, until what did he produce? An idol? No, with the press of a button. So your position, I say to you, is a superficial rigidity, similar to the rigidity of Ibn Hazm, and you have even surpassed him. Why? Because he was an imam of independent legal reasoning, and you are not scholars of independent legal reasoning. You are a group of followers. Your prayer is either Hanafi, or Shafi'i, or Maliki, or Hanbali. Your Hajj is the same, your zakah is the same. But in these matters, you engage in independent legal reasoning and say what no one before you from the people of knowledge and virtue has said. So I wanted to present this idea to you as well, because I saw in you, if Allah wills, a readiness to accept the correct knowledge. I hope this speech finds a place in your heart, and then you convey it to others. And now, give news of Umm al-Fadl. We sat longer than we intended, but our brother here, may Allah bless him, I mean..."
The questioner : ... the hour.
The Shaykh : I do not want to open a door for myself. Many of these people who make such requests, and I see these formalities as similar to idolatry.
The questioner: Allah is the Greatest!
The Shaykh: Peace be upon you.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner : They say now it is "capturing the shadow," like a mirror. Is the mirror forbidden for you? And the photographic image is capturing the shadow...
The questioner : I know him.
The Shaykh : Do you know him personally?
The questioner : I know him.
The Shaykh : Very good, where was he?
The questioner : In al-Dawsh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : In al-Dawsh.
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : al-Bouti.
The Shaykh : No, Sa'id Ramadan is from the Muslim Brotherhood.
The questioner : I do not know him.
The Shaykh : The one from the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Bouti, al-Bouti, Dr. al-Bouti, no, Sa'id Ramadan. This is, as the Muslim Brotherhood describe him, the "Hawari" (disciple) of Hasan al-Banna, his special student.
The questioner: Yes.
The student : Yes, he is in Iraq now, it seems to me.
The Shaykh : No, he was in Switzerland, and then this man passed away. He was a eloquent mosque preacher, and truly, he captivated minds when he preached. The youth had a style of his; he would carry a noble Quran in his pocket. When he addressed the audience, he would look at the Quran and say, "This is the Book of Allah, it says so and so," and so on. The point is, he visited Damascus about twenty or thirty years ago, so I sat with him in a room at the Muslim Brotherhood center. The topic of the image was raised, and the Muslim Brotherhood all consider photographic images permissible. Hasan al-Banna’s halls were all decorated with his picture, and the Guide al-Hudaybi, and I do not know what is behind it?
The questioner : Handmade.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : And handmade as well.
The Shaykh : The point is, we sat and opened this topic, and he mentioned that this is "capturing the shadow." Capturing the shadow is not photography. We spoke with him, may Allah will it, and so on. I said to him, "What is your opinion here? What is your opinion now on the huge factories that the disbelievers have established, where with the press of a button, the raw material becomes liquid plastic here, and there come out idols in shapes and colors, called 'girls' toys,' do you know them? Yes, idols carved from stone, or from bronze, from Druze, and so on. What is your opinion? Is this permissible or forbidden?" He had no choice but to say it is forbidden. I said, "But this is like that; it is just a button press, no carving, no bringing of a chisel to chip away at it, and it becomes a sale, just like what happened with that skilled Italian painter, I forgot his name, he was a skilled painter."
The questioner : Da Vinci, my Shaykh, Leonardo Da Vinci.
The Shaykh : Perhaps that is the one.
The questioner : The one who did the Mona Lisa.
The Shaykh : No, look, what is his story? He carved an idol for one of the great ones, and it looked as if it were alive. Because of how much he was taken with its beauty, he said to it, "Speak." It did not speak, so he broke it, heh heh, after the great effort. Now, the long story short, I said to him, "These idols now come to us by the dozens and hundreds with the press of a button, not like that Italian who sat for hours, or days, or perhaps months, until what did he produce? An idol? No, with the press of a button. So your position, I say to you, is a superficial rigidity, similar to the rigidity of Ibn Hazm, and you have even surpassed him. Why? Because he was an imam of independent legal reasoning, and you are not scholars of independent legal reasoning. You are a group of followers. Your prayer is either Hanafi, or Shafi'i, or Maliki, or Hanbali. Your Hajj is the same, your zakah is the same. But in these matters, you engage in independent legal reasoning and say what no one before you from the people of knowledge and virtue has said. So I wanted to present this idea to you as well, because I saw in you, if Allah wills, a readiness to accept the correct knowledge. I hope this speech finds a place in your heart, and then you convey it to others. And now, give news of Umm al-Fadl. We sat longer than we intended, but our brother here, may Allah bless him, I mean..."
The questioner : ... the hour.
The Shaykh : I do not want to open a door for myself. Many of these people who make such requests, and I see these formalities as similar to idolatry.
The questioner: Allah is the Greatest!
The Shaykh: Peace be upon you.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner : They say now it is "capturing the shadow," like a mirror. Is the mirror forbidden for you? And the photographic image is capturing the shadow...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.