This is an old issue in which questions and debates are common, and scholars of the past and present have spoken about it. The basic principle regarding it is as follows:
1. Islam is strict when it comes to pictures because they were a doorway to polytheism and a means of excessive veneration. Additionally, some pictures are an attempt to imitate the creation of Allah.
2. Pictures are not wholly allowed or prohibited, as a picture may be prohibited while the same picture may be allowed for another reason, as we will explain God willing. Therefore, the prohibition is conditional, and not a matter of worship. The rule is that the ruling revolves around the presence or absence of the underlying cause for prohibition.
3. The word “pictures” mentioned in the prohibitive Ḥadīths does not refer to one specific form. Sometimes it means statues, while other times it means drawing and sculpture. Moreover, the contemporary picture, which is made by a machine, is not mentioned in a single text, and the discussions surrounding it are based on analogy, which is not always applicable.
Firstly, several texts have been mentioned that prohibit the keeping pictures, including:
1. Al-Bukhāriy and Muslim narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Those who make these pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them. ‘Make alive what you have created.”
2. Al-Bukhāriy and Muslim also narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Angels do not enter the house in which there is a dog or a picture.”
3. ʽAāʼishah also said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) visited us after returning from a journey, and I had a shelf with a thin cloth curtain hanging over it and on which there were statues. When he saw it, the color of his face changed (because of anger) and he said, “O ʽAāʼishah! the most grievous torment from Allah on the Day of Resurrection will be for those who imitate (Allah) in the act of His creation.” ʽAāʼishah said: We tore it into pieces and made a cushion or two cushions out of that.”
There are other narrations that revolve around this meaning in the books of Sunnah. In some of them, the Prophet (peace be upon him) warned against pictures and in others against statues.
Therefore, the scholars differed in the ruling on pictures due to their different interpretations of the concept of pictures, whether it refers to the drawn or engraved, or to the sculpted in the form of a living creature.
Also, did this prohibition apply specifically to a certain period of time when people were closer to the pre-Islamic era, or is it a general prohibition to prevent any means of excessive veneration?
Secondly, the scholars differed in the ruling on creating images of living creatures, as follows:
1. Drawing and engraving and the like: Scholars have different opinions on this:
– Absolute prohibition due to the general texts mentioned earlier.
– Conditional prohibition: prohibited if the picture is complete, but permissible if it is incomplete in a way that the person/creature depicted in it cannot be recognized. For example, if only the head or the upper part of the chest with the head is depicted. Also, it is prohibited if the image is highly respected, but otherwise it is permissible.
– Absolute permissibility, which is reported by some Mālikiy scholars.
2. Statues: Some scholars are stricter regarding statues than they are regarding pictures, as they involve sculpting.
– Some of them prohibit them absolutely.
– Others permit them on the condition that they are incomplete in a way that the human form cannot be realistically depicted, as allowed by the Ḥanafiy, Mālikiy, and Ḥanbaliy schools if the statue has a hole that prevents it from being considered a living creature.
– Some scholars permit them, as reported by Al-Qurṭubiy (may Allah have mercy on him), if they are made of materials that do not last, such as candy and dough.
Thirdly, what is mentioned regarding the possession of pictures and sculptures:
There are narrations that indicate prohibition and others that indicate permissibility regarding the possession of pictures and sculptures. Some of the narrations indicating prohibition are as follows:
– Al-Bukhāriy narrated from ʽAāʼishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet never left in his house anything containing figures of a cross without destroying it. ʼAḥmad narrated a Ḥadīth with a Ḥasan (Fair) chain on the authority of ʽAliy who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was at a funeral and he said: “which of you will go to the city and not leave in it any idol but he will break it, or any grave but he will level it, or any image but he will spoil it?” A man said: “I will, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).” So he went, but he was afraid of the people of the city, so he came back, ʽAliy (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I will go, O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)”. He said: “Go.” So he went then he came back and said: “O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). I did not leave in it any idol but I broke it, or any grave but I levelled it, or any image but I spoiled it.” The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever goes back to doing any of that has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad.”
The narrations indicating prohibition are as follows:
– ʽAāʼishah reported that when God’s Messenger arrived after the expedition to Tabūk or Khaybar the wind raised an end of a curtain which was placed before her storeroom, revealing some dolls which belonged to her. He asked her what this was, and she replied that they were her dolls. Among them he saw a horse with wings made of rags and asked what that was that he saw among them. She told him that it was a horse, and when he asked what it was that it had on it and she replied that it had wings, he said, “A horse with wings!” She replied, “Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings?” She said that he laughed so heartily that she could see his back teeth.
Some have said that this is specific to children only for the purpose of education.
The truth is that this interpretation is weak for several reasons:
– If it were prohibited, then the general texts would apply to everyone, whether young or old, and this is the case with all prohibitions.
– Moreover, children are more deserving of knowing what is permissible and what is prohibited, as what a person grows up with tends to become a habit for them.
– Additionally, the fact that ʽAāʼishah, the Prophet’s wife, was young enough to play with dolls typically played by children, is a way of belittling her status and the status of the Prophet who marries a young child, may Allah forbit him from doing that.
What appears to us is that the permissibility here is related to the security of falling into shirk (associating partners with Allah) and excessive veneration through this way, as well as the fact that it has become a need, and this can be a general situation, as some scholars have said.
Fourthly, what was mentioned earlier does not apply to most pictures that are now taken by capturing shadow by cameras or phone cameras or other pictures that have a shadow, such as engravings on walls and paper, images on clothes and curtains, and photographic images. All of these are permissible according to the majority of religious scholars.
The evidence for this ruling is what ʽAāʼishah said: “We had a curtain with us which had portraits of birds upon it. Whenever a visitor came, he found them in front of him. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said to me: Change them, for whenever I enter the room) I see them and it brings to my mind (the pleasures) of worldly life.” If it were absolutely prohibited, he (the Prophet) would not have left it, and likewise, the Prophet (peace be upon him) stated the reason for his resentment, which is that it reminds him of the world, and this is not a prohibited reason.
Another evidence is what Al-Bukhāriy narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ book, on the authority of Busr ibn Saʽīd from Zayd ibn Khālid from Abī Ṭalḥah that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The angels do not enter the house which contains a picture.” Busr said: “Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhaniy then fell it and we paid him a sick visit. There was a curtain with a picture hanging at his door. I then said to ʽUbaydullah al-Khawlāniy, the step-son of Maymunah, wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him): “Did Zayd not tell us about pictures on the first day?” ʽUbaydullah said: “Did you not hear him when he said: Except a figure on a garment?” Figure here refers to a drawn or printed picture, and this refers to exception.
Therefore, taking this type of pictures, keeping them, and hanging them somewhere is permissible according to the texts of Sharīʽah, and it is only prohibited if it leads to excessive veneration that may lead to shirk.
As for the Ḥadīth about the angels not entering a house with a dog, we have already elaborated our opinion regarding the rulings on dogs, so please refer back to it.
After all, Allah knows best.
Fatwa by Dr. Khālid Naṣr