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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The obligation of one who owns a photography studio and then learns that it is forbidden

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
A man has a studio; a shop containing photography equipment, and he learned that photography is forbidden; so how should he deal with it so that he can avoid loss, and if he sells it to a Muslim, would that not be assisting in the spread of sin? And what is the ruling on the money he earns from it, is it permissible for him to spend it on himself and his family?
Answer: This requires detail: The studio photographs both what is permissible and what is prohibited. If it photographs what is permissible, such as cars, airplanes, mountains, and other things like trees, and anything else that does not have a soul, there is no harm in selling that and photographing these things that people may need and which do not have a soul. As for photographing things that have souls, such as human beings, livestock, or birds, that is not allowed. However, if it photographs something that people need and are compelled to have, such as the identity card that people need for their records, there is no harm.
The point is: that he should not engage in it except with what is permissible, and if he sells it to people, there is no harm in selling it; because it is sold and used for both good and evil, just as a person sells weapons.. he sells a sword.. he sells a knife, and the knife is used for good and evil, and so is the weapon. He is not responsible for this matter unless he knows that the buyer will harm people with it; in that case, he does not sell to him, neither weapons nor anything else. But if he does not know, and it is in the general market where there is no knowledge of who will use it for evil or for good, that does not harm him, and the sin is on the one who used it for evil.
Source binbaz.org.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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