In The Name Of Allah the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful

ISLAMIC CONCEPT ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY

Analysis from different theories and majorly from Quran and Ahadith
Firstly let us mention The Ahadith that led Pictures to be prohibited in the Sharia Law Angels dont enter the house in which there are pictures

Hadith - Bukhari 4:448, Narrated Abu Talha I heard Allah's Apostle saying; "Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal)."
This Hadith is to show the triviality of the picture, so that Muslims would restrict themselves from keeping pictures and forming a culture of pictures and deities as the Quraysh the early Arab Idol worshippers used to hang pictures in their houses of the idols they used to worship. Islam abandoned this. Now as we come to know that keeping the pictures of a living thing is not a good option, but still it is not haram because Angels of mercy not entering a house doesnt make the possessors of the house the wrong doers but yes keep that in mind that IT MAY LEAD PEOPLE TO GET ASTRAY AND BLESSING LESS FROM ALLAH hence it is an alarming option to openly keep pictures in house CONCLUSION: We may keep pictures of non living objects for giving beauty to the house but do not hang pictures of living things around instead it should be kept inside that it may not be visible to every eye.

Now that we have learned that keeping pictures of living things in our home is alarming due to the angels not entering the house but still we are not confirmed that whether its haram or not. Now let us examine the next hadith

Whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah Hadith - Bukhari 3:428, Narrated Said bin Abu Al-Hasan While I was with Ibn 'Abbas a man came and said, "O father of 'Abbas! My sustenance is from my manual profession and I make these pictures." Ibn 'Abbas said, "I will tell you only what I heard from Allah's Apostle . I heard him saying, 'Whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah till he puts life in it, and he will never be able to put life in it.' " Hearing this, that man heaved a sigh and his face turned pale. Ibn 'Abbas said to him, "What a pity! If you insist on making pictures I advise you to make pictures of trees and any other unanimated objects."

Now we come to know that exactly which type of picture Islam is talking about, Simply it is the picture that was drawn by hands of a living creature and the reason behind is was simple that the early Arabs were very used to keeping and hanging the pictures of their dieties on walls and worshipping them exactly as we see Hindus do today (see fig. 1.0)

As you can see in the pictures above. All the deities that are worshipped by Hindus are made by human thoughts and their hands, and for every Hindu it is compulsory to keep these pictures in their cars, their pockets or at least in their homes, The same case was with the early Arab tribes, the Arabs were used to these kinds of customs hence in order to prevent Arabs from returning back to the Idol worshipping it was necessary to banish all their customs which could engage them back in the Idol worshipping, therefore every step was taken to stop them from engaging them back into their old customs.

And one another reason for the neglecting of the Pictures drawn by the hands of a human was that it possesses the attribute of creation which makes the artist a Creator and the word Creator is reserved for Allah only, but well keep it as a second reason.

AN OBJECTION
One can object at this point that if all the customs were to be banished which could engage them back in idol worshipping than why didnt Islam banished the Circling (Tawaf) of the Kaaba and bowing towards the Kaaba, isnt that an idol worship? Answer: There could be several answers that can be given for this objection but well go with the answer which would be more suitable regarding this topic but still we seek refuge from Allah and guide us to the straight path and give us knowledge to provide with the best possible solution for the Ummah Islam orders the humankind to bow down only towards Allah that's a must. So, you must physically bow down somewhere, and naturally to some direction! If you were to do it right now, you would be bowing towards a random direction. Your physical presence on earth forces this upon you as a prostrating Believer to Allah Almighty, whether you like it or not. The bowing down to Allah Almighty in the direction of the Kaaba, or the city of Mecca in general, is a way to unify all Muslims to bow down to Allah Almighty, as one body and one unity, towards one direction and towards His Holy Temple.

Conclusion: The Sharia Law prohibits the pictures of the living which are sketched and drawn with human hands

Now that we know that Prophet Muhammad Commanded Muslims not to draw pictures and hang them or show it up on the houses. Now lets examine the difference between a hand drawn picture and a Digital Photograph.

Difference between a Sketched picture and a Photograph

Sketched picture and a Photograph are two different things Sketched Picture: A Picture or a depiction created by the use of several liquid or solid material ( ink, colors, paints, charcoal, etc) on a stable surface (sheet, paper, etc) created by a living thing (i.e.; human being) Digital Photography: Photography is the reflection of light on a subject which is captured on a mirror within the camera and then onto film. Digital photography is the reflection of light from a subject captured by digital sensors, charged coupled device CCDs or axel/pixel device CMOs. These sensors store the reflection either as raw data or in memory storage rather than film.

As we can see Sketched Picture and Digital Photograph are obviously not the same. Now lets go a little deep into the second hadith mentioned above

The Final Conclusion

Now the second hadith says: 'Whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah till he puts life in

it, and he will never be able to put life in it

Now lets examine that what is a Picture As we learned that A Picture or a depiction created by the use of several liquid or solid material ( ink, colors, paints, charcoal, etc) on a stable surface (sheet, paper, etc). The Picture consists of 2 things 1. A Substance to draw 2. An object to draw upon

And therefore a picture that contains these 3 three things are not permissible other than that are permissible in the Sharia Law

A Digital photograph that contains the above mentioned 3 things are not permissible. In short the pictures that are printed upon any surface or a paper by the command or a wish of a person is not acceptable. A picture captured from your camera on the eve of Eid or a day at a picnic is lawful until unless it is a Soft Copy that is 1. Free from a Substance to draw 2. Free from an object to draw upon So now we know that if we print a picture even on a piece of paper it would be called a Picture that has been forbidden. Jazak Allah for reading the article. All of the information above was provided not to criticize ones opinion but to give a proper message to the Ummah. BUT STILL ALLAH (SAWT) knows the best and may he guide us all to the straight path

NOTE: All the information provided is not challenged to be 100% correct but can be denied by further studies by the concerned people. This information was only based upon the topic of Photography in Islam hence if any other concerned personality denies the following article by valid Proofs are heartedly welcomed and awaited. If you find any thing against any Ayah of Hadith or if you come up with a hadith denying these statement you can turn this information down and act upon the Hadith

Anas Habib Khan