Question
There are number of Ahadith which prohibit muslims to make or take pictures of humans, animals and even landscape.Are these Ahadith authentic?Does Quran have to say anything about it?I will appreciate your detailed answer.
Regards
Answer
One of the principles which we have always stressed on is that if a particular Hadith or even a group of authentic Ahadith is contrary to a direct or even an indirect implication of any information provided in the Qur’an, then such Ahadith cannot be accepted in its absolute connotation. We must always try to understand Ahadith under the light of Quran instead of the other way around.When you collate all such Ahadith on pictures you find some obvious contradictions in them. In the matters of Deen one has to be absolutely clear that the directive is from Allah and His Rasul (pbuh) and has been transmitted to us in unambiguous manner;
Keeping the foregoing points in perspective, lets first see what the Quran has to say on this issue;
It is clearly mentioned in the Qur’an (Al-Saba 34: 13) that Solomon’s (pbuh) palace was decorated by ‘images’. It should further be noted that these ‘images’ have been mentioned as a part of the special blessings of God, which Solomon (pbuh) was bestowed with. The words used in Al-Saba 34: 13, do not allow us to restrict the referred images to those of non-living things. The word ‘Tamatheel’ has been rendered as a common noun in the verse and, therefore, all kinds of images would come under the definition of this word.Many English commentators have translated the word ‘Tamaseel‘ as ‘statues‘. There are some details of Solomon’s palace in Bible in the following words;
This was the construction of the stands: they had borders; the borders were within the frames; on the borders that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work (1 Kings 7:29)
Keeping this verse of the Qur’an in perspective and the details of Solomon’s (pbuh) palace, another very pertinent question that needs to be answered is why would images and imaging be considered a blessing of God for Solomon (pbuh) and an ‘obvious’ impiety for the followers of Muhammad (pbuh)?
Let us now look at this hadith from Musnad Ahmad Bin Hanbal;
حدثنا حفص بن غياث حدثنا ليث قال دخلت على سالم بن عبد الله وهو متكىء على وسادة فيها تماثيل طير ووحش فقلت أليس هذا يكره قال لا إنما يكره ما نصب نصبا
Laith reports that once I visited Saalim Ibn Abd Allah{(Son of Abdullah ibn Umar(ra) and grandson of Umar(ra)}. As I entered, I saw him resting on a pillow on which there were pictures of birds and wild animals. I asked him, “aren’t these [pictures] disliked [in Islam]”. He said, “No. Only those [pictures] are disliked which are put up for worship”.
It should be clear from the explanation given above that all pictures are not prohibited per se. It is only when a picture entails polytheistic veneration that it becomes prohibited, an extremely important piece of information which probably was missed out while transmitting Ahdith which prohibit pictures .
In our understanding, if a picture of a living thing, like the picture of a person’s parent, children, friends etc does not entail a polytheistic belief, it would not be prohibited. On the other hand, if a picture of a non-living thing [non-living does not imply “non-living” in the scientific sense] entails a polytheistic belief, like for instance, the picture of a particular tree, a stone or a building then such picture shall stand prohibited. The reason for this prohibition is, obviously, to save people from the fatal sin of Shirk [polytheism].
May Allah make us understand our Deen under the light of Quran and established Sunnah.
Hope we were able to answer your question
Regards
UIUK team
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