Nasai

Hadith Commentary: Benefits and Issues: Muslim bin Subaih is the name of Abu ad-Duha, who was a student of Masruq rahimahullah. This house also belonged to Yasar, the freed slave of Umar radi Allahu anhu, who was from the tribe of Nimir. He must have bought it from a Christian, and these were likely in the form of engravings or designs on some bedding, which was lying in the hut or on the platform, just as nowadays a person's portrait is drawn on cloth or paper, and they would have considered that portrait to be proper.

Hadith Commentary:
The intended meaning is those people who make images considering it permissible; they will indeed be disbelievers.
Some have said that this is for the purpose of severe warning (zajr), because a Muslim cannot remain in punishment forever.

Hadith Commentary:

Or one or two cushions were made; in another narration, it is mentioned in addition that we used to sit on them. In the narration of Muslim, it is stated that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) used to rest on them. The purpose of the chapter is evident from this.

Hazrat Ali ibn Abdullah Madini is the respected teacher and hadith scholar of Imam Bukhari. Imam Nasa'i spoke the truth when he said that he was born solely for the service of hadith. He passed away in Dhu al-Qa'dah, in the year 232 AH, at the age of 73 years. Rahimahullah.

Hadith Commentary:
(1)
When the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) saw a curtain with images on it, he did not tolerate it calmly nor did he show any kind of leniency; rather, he became angry, grabbed the curtain, and tore it apart. Then he also pronounced a warning that on the Day of Resurrection, those who make such images will be subjected to severe punishment.
(2)
From this, it is also understood that just as making images is forbidden (haram) and a major sin (kabirah), likewise, keeping them in the house out of fondness and hanging them on the walls is also a grave offense.
Muslims should keep a strict watch in their homes over such things that are a cause of Allah’s wrath.
Wallahu al-musta‘an.

Hadith Commentary:

The correspondence between the chapter and the hadith is evident: angels do not enter a house in which there are images of living beings.

Apparently, this seems to contradict the hadith in which it is mentioned that Aisha radi Allahu anha had hung a curtain in the house that had images on it. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was praying in that direction.

This can be reconciled by suggesting that perhaps the images on the curtain were of inanimate objects, and the hadith of the chapter pertains to images of living beings.

Hadith Commentary:
(1)
Making and keeping images is disobedience to Allah Ta'ala; therefore, the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did not enter the house in which there were images.
We should take a lesson from this incident.
The demand of asceticism (zuhd) and piety (taqwa) is that one should not go to any gathering or place where there are items based on disobedience to Allah Ta'ala.
(2)
According to this hadith, in any marriage gathering where there is intermingling of men and women, and where video recording is being done and the beautiful moments of life are being preserved as a keepsake, people of knowledge should boycott such gatherings. Similarly, the same ruling applies to any house in which obscene scenes are shown through television, VCR, or cable.
To tolerate such things with indifference is to invite the punishment of Allah.
Al-‘iyadhu billah (we seek refuge with Allah).

Hadith Commentary: Benefits and Issues: This hadith establishes that it is not permissible to keep in the house, without cutting, any mattress or cushion that is trampled upon or thrown on the ground. That is why Aisha (radi Allahu anha) cut it and made two cushions out of it, so that the image would be distorted. Therefore, the inference drawn by the majority that if a cloth with an image is trampled upon, then there is no harm in using it, is not correct, because regarding the "numriqah" (cushion), it is explicitly mentioned that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) sat on it and leaned against it. And if by "numriqah" here is meant a curtain, even then it was torn, because a curtain can be hung as well as spread out.

Hadith Commentary:
Vocabulary of the Hadith:
Suhwah:
Cupboard,
Niche,
Window,
Loft,
A small cellar.

Benefits and Issues:
Some individuals have raised the objection regarding this hadith that, according to the explicit text of the Qur’an, the most severe punishment will be for the people of Pharaoh, whereas in this hadith the most severe punishment is mentioned for the image-maker or photographer.
The scholars have given various answers to this,
but the correct view is that the meaning of the verse regarding the most severe punishment for the people of Pharaoh is not that it is exclusive to them;
others will also be afflicted with this most severe punishment,
and the photographer is included among them.
This is why in some places the explicit wording “among the most severely punished people” is found, and this hadith has been narrated from Aisha radi Allahu anha by different students,
and from them by many narrators, and each has narrated it in their own words and style, and none of them has mentioned all the details and particulars in full.
By gathering all the details of this incident, its correct situation becomes clear;
when viewed separately, these seem like different incidents,
whereas it is actually one and the same incident, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned various reasons and causes for tearing the curtain,
some narrated one reason,
others narrated another reason.

“And it will be said”—as if there will be punishment besides this as well. And this statement itself will be a separate punishment.

Commentary:
Benefits and Issues:

➊
Creating images of living beings is prohibited, whether the image is made on paper, wall, cloth, etc., or whether it is made in three-dimensional form from clay, stone, porcelain, plastic, etc.

➋
Some people say that the reason for the prohibition of images is that they used to be worshipped.
This is not correct, because trees, stars, the sun, the moon, and fire are also worshipped, yet the use of these things and benefiting from them is not prohibited.

➌
It is also claimed that in previous religious laws (shari‘ahs), making images and sculptures was permitted. Even if this claim is correct, the permissibility of something in a previous shari‘ah does not prove that it is permissible for us as well, unless we have clear evidence that it is also permissible in our shari‘ah.

➍
In the present era, some benefits of images are mentioned.
It is the duty of Muslim governments to seek other lawful alternative means to achieve these objectives, especially when, due to images (film, TV, VCR, etc.), the frightening and heinous consequences of obscenity, the promotion of infidel culture, and the increase in crimes are appearing in society. Compared to these harms, those benefits have no significance.

➎
The command to put a soul into the images will be given to image-makers in order to humiliate them and to make clear the abhorrence of their crime; thus, this command is, in reality, a form of punishment.

➏
All images are included in this prohibition, whether they are hand-drawn, made with a camera, or printed in a press.