What Is the Ruling on Photography and Images?
Classical prohibitions concerned three-dimensional images and depictions made to be venerated. Most contemporary scholars permit photography for legitimate purposes, while a minority extend the classical prohibition to it.
Where there is a genuine difference of opinion, it is named as such rather than smoothed over.
The evidence
The hadiths on image-makers being most severely punished are understood by the majority as concerning those who imitate the creation of Allah, particularly for veneration.
Photography was argued by scholars including Muhammad ibn Ibrahim and later al-Albani to differ from painting or sculpting, as it captures rather than creates a form.
All agree on prohibiting images used for veneration and on images displaying what should be covered.
In practice
- Necessary photography — identification, documentation, education — is not disputed.
- The stronger concern in practice is content and its use, not the technology.
- Avoid displaying images in a manner resembling veneration.
Knowledge that is not acted on has a name in the tradition, and it is not a flattering one. Pick the smallest applicable step.
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