The correct term for those who call to the way of the early generations (in all their affairs) is “Ahl al Hadeeth”. The legitimacy of the Ahl al Hadeeth is one that is intertwined with Islam itself. From the time of the Sahabah til the present, they are the single most maslak that follows right way.

The Ulema of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa’ah were always known to be hated by ignorant ones.

They have so much hatred for the Shaykh raheemahullah?

Yet whenever they read a hadeeth which is not in the Saheehayn (Bukhari and Muslim) and then they see “Al-Albanee declared it Saheeh” they put their trust in it.

Critize YOURSELF before others and call YOURSELF to account before YOUR brought to account.

People with no knowledge insulting the Mashaykh from behind a computer screen!!!

And ask the real people of knowledge about affairs of the Deen, not Qardawee, who says the Christians are our brothers!!!!!!!

May Allaah grant Muhammad Naasir-ud-Deen Al-Albaanee peace and comfort while he is in his grave and allow him to be submitted into Jannatul-Firdaws. Ameen.

May Allaah forgive the Muslimeen for our minor and major sins and for what our tongue utters, our actions and beliefs and guide us and the Muslim Rulers towards the Siraatul-Mustaqeem. Ameen.

Wassalaamu Alaykum,

I copied all of Yusuf Qaradawi’s “The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam” to a Microsoft Word 2007 file (.docx) archived on my computer, so if you would like a free copy, please let me know here and I will give it to you insha’Allah.

I read more about what Sheikh Qaradawi was trying to say. He says it is the intent that matters more than anything.

If someone takes a picture of something other than an animal or a human, such as a rock, but yet he has the intent of trying to compete with Allah (swt) in His creation or make the like of it, then that person is a kaffir (disbeliever) already, even before he takes the picture. See?

I wish I could post everything Qaradawi had to say as he explained it far better than I could ever hope to. He cleared up the issue, but I think if I posted it here it would be far too long. If you would like to dedicated an entire blog post to his section on photography and drawings, then please let me know and I can email you the file I have where he gives his fatwa.

I certainly don’t have any intention of trying to compete against Allah (swt). Astaghfirullah hal adzim that anyone could ever think such an evil thought! Not to forget that is impossible anyway to compete with Allah (swt). Only a true fool who is mesmerized by the arrogant (and loser) Shaitaan/Iblis would have intent like that.

I bet most artists don’t even know about this prohibition in some places. They probably think they are just making art and have no evil intent.

All I do is take pictures so I will have memories of my family and friends and also of my garden. I do it to keep a journal of my life..to have something to look at and enjoy from time to time. I have no ill will or evil intentions by taking snapshots of my family.

Only Allah (swt) can create as He is the Creator of us all. He has a magnificent creation and it is nice to take pictures of it.

We can’t create anything. In fact, even when we build something, for example, a car or a house, we did not “create” that car or house. Far from it. We only utilized the knowledge that Allah (swt) gave us. Knowledge that was with Allah (swt) and only because of Allah (swt) we are given that knowledge. Then we design something if He permits us, but it is not creating anything.

Allah (swt) is the only Creator. I think that those taking pictures or videos and thinking they are creating what Allah (swt) can create or competing with Him, are crazy people who will burn in the Hellfire. I don’t know that such people exist, but there are idiots everywhere in this world.

As an amateur photographer, I have no ill will or bad intention.

May Allah (swt) forgive me for anything wrong I have done or anything wrong I have said or if it has offended anyone. I am truly sorry if anything I have said offended anyone.

May Allah (swt) forgive us all and accept all the Muslims into Jannah. Insha’Allah.

Amin.

Take care my brothers and sisters.

Wassalam,
Husam

Well, I tend to follow Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi who says that drawing pictures of living things with a soul is haram, but using a camera is only capturing an image and thus not haram. His reasoning, at least from what I could understand, is that it is drawing which is the problem.

Also, cameras don’t need to be pressed to take pictures. High tech cameras can be set to take your own picture without any need to have someone hold the camera.

My question is why some scholars are allowing videotape/videodisc/DVD, etc, but not paper photographs?

I really *do not understand* why videos are allowed, because I am an amateur photographer. I know that films produce 24 to 30 photographs per second, but this is doubled to create “motion blur” so it appears to be in motion and not so “jerky” if you know what I mean.

When we watch a video, it is basically a series of pictures being run past our eyes at at rate of 24 to 30 frames (still shots/pictures) per second, to give us the *illusion* that this is motion.

What is specifically wrong with photographs on paper?

Not to disparage the scholars as I respect Salafi scholars too and take their views into account, but how can they say paper is bad but not video?

Videos are produced from a film negative which is a form of waxy paper. The image is captured by the film camera and the negative picks this up. Chemicals are used to cause the image to appear on the negative, then paper is used and the image is projected onto special photographic paper.
It’s amazing how this works, and really it does not require any human intervention. It just works. It’s as simple as that. It is a series of chemical reactions.

Anyway, more to the point: Film negatives are on waxy paper and then run through a film negative scanner to produce the final product on DVD.

I think the problem is more along the lines of drawing (making some effort) with your hands, attempting to imitate (if drawing a picture of your wife/husband/children) for example, or people that don’t exist, such as what a lot of artists do.

They are using their pen and pencil to try to draw images.

A camera is just like a human eye. All it does it capture what is there exactly as we see it. There is no human intervention except mixing chemicals to develop the picture. There’s *no drawing* involved.

I guess some think that it depends on how closely you are trying to copy the creation. But if this was the case, then videotapes and DVDs would be haram, because DVDs, especially high definition (HD-DVD or Blu-ray) digital videos as they make everything look as if it were live (not prerecorded) and 99.9% exactly what the person looks like.

In other words, the high resolution of videos today, especially DVD and high definition DVD are much clearer than photographic film still images (prints) on photographic paper.

To me this is an “either or” issue. You can’t have both. Either photography (films, videotapes, prints) is all halal, or it is all haram.

I really cannot respect a scholar who says that videos are halal but prints (i.e. paper pictures you have in your photo album) are not because the video is not “tangible”. lol. No disrespect, but this does not make any sense to me.

Why is paper so bad? Is it because artists use paper to draw things?

Artists often make films too and use video to accomplish new art, instead of just drawing on paper (canvas).

Qaradawi just makes more sense to me. As he said, the camera is only capturing an image. No drawing is going on. His explanation is very easy to understand.

Be aware though, that video often contains images of women without hijab (ever watch the evening news and see the female news anchor?). That’s just one example. There are tons of images of women and men improperly dressed on TV. Even if you watch only a sermon made by a scholar on video, it is still 30 frames (pictures) per second.

If video is halal but prints are haram, then what about someone who scans all his film negatives and prints onto DVD discs and then decides to watch them on his TV because it is no longer “tangible”.

See what I mean? C’mon guys.

Film or digital, it makes no difference. This reminds me of the Jews arguing over what type of cow they were supposed to slaughter. They kept asking more detailed questions until Allah (SWT) became angry with them.

Isn’t it the _intent_ that matters? Film or digital, it is a picture. Doesn’t matter. I’m a photographer. Surely what I say holds some sway (not as a fatwa) because I have knowledge about the photographic process.

I think it is cheating to scan all your images onto discs and then view them on your computer or DVD player and then say “Wow, magically these images are now all halal…because they are digitized!”. Paper prints being haram but digitizing them somehow removes the sin from them. lol.

C’mon. I’m being serious here. Some scholar somewhere is playing around with the rules.

It is either all haram or all halal. And if it is halal, then photos of vulgar scenes would undoubtedly be haram. Anything halal can be abused to the point it can become haram or produce things which are haram. Photography may be halal, but pornography is not. Grapes are halal, but wine is not.

Sorry for the long-winded post and my English. I haven’t lived in the West for 8 years, so my English grammar has gone downhill as I am surrounded by non-English speakers.

Wassalam,
Husam Mohd. Khalil

http://www.ahlulhadeeth.net/php/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=645

The polemic against Wahhabism in this article is unfounded. Even though there are certain fiqh issues where salafis differ, its unreasonable to think that there is any blind following of the Hanbali madhab. There are numerous fatwa by the “Wahhabi” shuyookh that show them differing from the Hanbali stance.

Good article, but need alot of fact checking and less bias.