Question:
Some people issue a fatwa that photographs taken with a camera do not fall under the category of images that have been prohibited, because it is merely capturing a shadow. So what is your opinion on this?
Answer:
This is a modern doubt and deception of the present age. The question arises: who is it that is capturing the shadow? Indeed, it is (the Messenger of Allah ﷺ), a human being, who prohibited images and the earnings from images. Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to differentiate between two things that are similar to each other.
Thus, it makes no difference whether an image is made by hand or with a device (a camera). An image made by a camera (lens) is not outside the ruling of an image made by hand, because it is the hand that invented the camera which produces images, and it is the hand that operates this camera. When camera photographs first became widespread among people, a fatwa permitting them and based on the aforementioned justification was issued from Cairo. Then this fatwa became common among people, because desire exists in people’s hearts. This fatwa kept spreading, until some Islamic magazines published it. With the passage of time, these magazines will return on their heels: they will declare permissible and lawful those images which they used to call forbidden before permitting these camera images, and so they will also permit hand-made images.
Since the earliest times, scholars have had two opinions regarding the distinction between three-dimensional and non-three-dimensional images. Some scholars consider all images to be forbidden, and this is also the correct position, as the hadith of the curtain with images torn by Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) indicates that (images) are forbidden.
And some scholars say that the prohibition of images applies only to three-dimensional images. In the magazine “Noor al-Islam,” whose current name is “al-Azhar,” I read an article about images in which the disagreement of scholars regarding images was explained. The author of that article adopted the prohibition of three-dimensional images, and he turned away from the correct and sound position that images are absolutely forbidden.
Not only that, he also opened a door of legal stratagems (hiyal) concerning this legal ruling. He quoted from some scholars that indeed, when an image is altered in such a way that when you look at it you assume it is not alive, then the image becomes lawful and permissible. And this alteration is to be done by drawing a line across its neck and cutting off its throat. However, the legally prescribed alteration of an image is to change its prominent features and limbs, as mentioned in the narrations from Aisha, Umm Salamah and other Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), in which it is mentioned that Jibril (peace be upon him) did not enter the house, although he had promised to meet the Prophet ﷺ; but he did not come. Later he came and said that indeed angels do not enter a house in which there is an image or a dog. He also said: Look, there is a curtain in the house with images of men. So order that they be changed, so that they are made into the form of a tree.
Therefore, to avoid the sin of images, the prescribed alteration mentioned above must be made to them, and (the scholars) kept changing this alteration too, until they reached the point of merely drawing a line on the neck of the image so that it is considered lifeless. Therefore, a Muslim should not be deceived by the aforementioned distinction between hand-made images and images captured by camera, because it is only an apparent distinction. An image that is made by hand also resembles the creation of Allah, and likewise an image made by camera.
