Is Taking Pictures Haram?

Phones have made photography part of almost every day: family dinners, a child's first steps, a passport renewal, a sunset on the way home. At the same time, many Muslims have heard that the Prophet ﷺ warned image-makers of severe punishment, and they are not sure whether that applies to the camera in their pocket.

The honest answer is that respected scholars disagree. This guide explains the hadith behind the question, the main positions and who holds them, and the points where every view lines up.

Is taking pictures haram in Islam?

Taking pictures of things without souls, like landscapes, buildings and food, is permissible according to all views; camera photos of people and animals are a matter of real scholarly disagreement. One group of scholars, including Egypt's Dar al-Ifta, Islamweb and Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin, holds that a camera photo is not the image-making the hadith forbid, because it captures what Allah created instead of inventing a likeness. Another group, including Shaykh Ibn Baz, the Saudi Standing Committee and IslamQA, holds that photos of living beings are haram except in cases of need.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari of Qibla.com describes the split this way: most Arab scholars from all four schools permit camera photos, while the overwhelming majority of scholars from the Indian subcontinent, including Mufti Taqi Usmani, forbid them. He calls it "a matter of genuine and valid difference of opinion."

What do the hadith say about making images?

Several authentic hadith warn image-makers of severe punishment, and they are the starting point for every view. The main narrations are:

• "The people who will receive the severest punishment from Allah will be the picture makers" (Sahih al-Bukhari 5950).
• "Those who make these pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them, 'Make alive what you have created'" (Sahih al-Bukhari 5951).
• When the Prophet ﷺ saw a curtain with pictures in Aisha's house, he tore it and said: "The people who will receive the severest punishment on the Day of Resurrection will be those who try to make the like of Allah's creations." She then turned it into one or two cushions (Sahih al-Bukhari 5954).
• "Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3225).

When a man who made pictures for a living asked Ibn 'Abbas for a ruling, he narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said every image-maker would be in the Fire, then advised: "If you have to do it at all, then paint the pictures of trees and lifeless things" (Sahih Muslim 2110a). This is why scholars agree that images of things without souls are fine.

Why do some scholars say camera photos are allowed?

Scholars who permit photography say the hadith target people who imitate Allah's creation, and a camera does not create anything; it records light reflected from what Allah already made. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin explained that instant camera images do "not come under the heading of image-making," but are "transmitting an image that Allaah has made by means of this machine," which he compared to a reflection or a photocopy of a letter, as quoted by IslamQA (answer 82366) from his Majmoo' Fataawa.

Egypt's Dar al-Ifta went further in a 2013 fatwa. It says the question of drawing and picturing humans "is from among the controversial issues and there is no objection to following any of the opinions," noting that Maliki scholars and some of the early generations limited the prohibition to full statues. It permits drawing people and animals and says it is "impermissible to paint or photograph nudity" or anything that must be covered.

Islamweb (fatwa 83249) also sides with those who allow camera and video photography when it has no forbidden content, "since the reason for which the photography of living beings is forbidden, i.e. imitating of Allah's Creation, does not exist." It still adds that avoiding photography is better, to stay clear of doubt.

Why do other scholars say photos of people are haram?

Scholars who forbid photos say the hadith make no exception for the tool used; an image of a living being is an image, whether drawn by hand or made by a camera. Shaykh Ibn Baz said that "depicting living beings is forbidden and not permissible, whether by photography or otherwise," except where dire necessity calls for it, such as photographing criminals so they can be caught. He said photos for walls, keepsakes or wedding parties have "no basis."

IslamQA (answer 10668) quotes the Saudi Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas: the basic principle on images of any animate being is that it is haram, "whether the pictures are three-dimensional or are drawn on paper, cloth or walls, etc., or are photographs (taken with a camera)." It adds that images can lead to veneration and are "a kind of trying to match the creation of Allah." The same answer quotes Ibn Uthaymin saying that making pictures just for memories is haram, which shows that even scholars who did not class camera photos as image-making were cautious about taking them without a purpose.