The Islamic Personality by Sheikh Taqīuddīn An-Nabahānī

Drawing is to draw the picture of something, and also from drawing is the making of statues and it includes sculpting. The drawing itself or the sculpture is the picture and pictures (suwar) is its plural. It is also called drawing (tasaweer) in the language and it includes sculpting, and it is said linguistically that drawing is sculpting. The Shar’a forbade the drawing of anything with a soul in it among humans, animals and birds whether it is drawn upon paper, skin, clothes, vessels, jewellery, cash etc so all of this is forbidden since the mere drawing of something in which there is a soul is forbidden whatever the thing being drawn. Drawing that which has no soul in it is permitted without any sin therein. The Shar’a allowed the drawing of trees, mountains, and flowers etc which do not have a soul. As for forbidding that which has a soul, this is established by the Shari’ah texts. Al-Bukhari extracted from the hadith of ibn Abbas (ra) who said:

It has been narrated

And in the words of Ahmad

And Muslim and Al-Bukhari extracted from the hadith of Aisha that she said:

The qiram is a thin curtain in which there are colours or a curtain in which there are drawings and engravings. In the hadith of Muslim

The (durnuka) is a type of clothing. Al-Bukhari extracted from the hadith of ibn Abbas (ra): The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

And he extracted via the way of ibn Uma

It has been narrated from ibn Abbas (ra) to whom came a man and said: I draw these drawings and make these statues so give me a fatwa about them. He said: Come close to me. So he came closer until he placed his hand upon his head and said: I inform you from the Messenger of Allah (saw) what I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) saying:

Ahmad narrated from Abu Hurairah (ra) who said:

The (qiram) is the thin curtain of wool with colours. And Al-Bukhari narrated via the way of Abu Juhayfah that he bought a youth who was a cupper so he said:

These ahadith in their generality request the leaving of drawing decisively, and this is the evidence that drawing is forbidden. It is general including every picture whether it has a shadow or not, whether it is complete or incomplete. So there is no difference in forbidding drawings between what does or does not have a shadow, and between the complete picture which is able to live and the incomplete picture which is not able to live. All are forbidden due to the generality of the ahadith. And due to the hadith of ibn Abbas (ra) about the House (Ka’aba) that the pictures that were in the Ka’aba were drawn in traces without any shadow but the Messenger did not enter until they were effaced. And the hadith of Aisha (ra) indicated that the curtain had drawings traced upon it without any shadow. It is narrated that the Prophet (saw) sent Ali in an expedition and said to him:

He mentioned both types, the one which has a shadow which is the statue and the one without a shadow which is the drawing that is effaced. The distinction between that which has a shadow and that which has no shadow is not correct nor does it have a basis, and its being living or non living is not a reason in its forbiddance nor does there exist an evidence excluding it from the forbiddance. As for permitting the drawing of that which has no soul among trees, mountains etc this is because the ahadith which came forbidding drawing restricted the forbidding in the picture which has a soul. This restriction is recognised and has an understanding that is acted upon. Its understanding is that the picture which has no soul inside is not forbidden. Indeed, some ahadith came unrestricted but some of them came restricted, and the usuli principle is carrying the unrestricted upon the restricted. The forbidding is only upon the picture which has a soul in it, which is the human being, animal and bird. As for other than these, it is not forbidden to draw them; rather it is permitted. Also the allowance of drawing that which has no soul of trees etc, this came explicitly in the ahadith. In the hadith of Abu Hurairah (ra):

This means that there is nothing wrong with the statue of a tree. And in the hadith of ibn Abbas (ra):

The ahadith which came forbidding drawing are not reasoned and there did not come the reasoning of drawing by any reason, hence no reason is sought. As for what ibn Umar narrated of the statement of the Messenger (saw):

And what came in the hadith of Aisha(ra) about drawing:

All this did not come in the form of reasoning. No reason is understood from the words and sentences in these ahadith. All that is in the matter is that the Messenger equates drawing with creation and the sculptors & painter with the Creator. The resemblance does not mean reasoning nor does it become a reason since resemblance of something with something does not make that which is likened to the reason for that which resembles; rather it is possible to be a description for it, and the description of the thing is not a reason for it. Accordingly it is not said that drawing is forbidden because there is an imitation of the creation of Allah therein. Allah (swt) created mankind, animals and birds and He created trees, mountains and flowers. So if drawing human beings, animals and birds is forbidden for the reason of imitating the creation of Allah (swt) then this reason exists in trees, mountains, flowers etc since they are also created by Allah (swt) so, at that point, drawing them is forbidden due to the existence of the reason in their drawing. The reason revolves around that which is reasoned in presence and absence even though the texts came permitting the drawing of trees and everything that has no soul. Accordingly drawing human beings, animals and birds is forbidden due to the text which came forbidding them and not for any reason. Drawing trees, mountains and everything without a soul is permitted without any sin therein due to the texts which came to allow it.

The drawing which Allah (swt) forbade is only the drawing or engraving etc which a human performs directly by himself. As for drawing via the way of photographic equipment, it is not included nor is it of the forbidden drawing but rather it is allowed. This is because its reality is that it is not drawing, but is only the transporting the shadow from the reality to the film nor is it drawing a person by the drawer. The drawer by photographic equipment does not draw the person but only prints the shadow of the person upon the film by means of the equipment so it is transporting of the shadow not drawing and via the means of equipment not by the drawer. So it does not enter into the prohibition which came in the ahadith. The ahadith say:

The one who takes the picture of the person or an animal with photographic equipment does not make these pictures nor does he perform this drawing nor is he a drawer. Rather it is the photographic equipment which transports the shadow to the film and he does not do anything other than moving the equipment. Therefore he is not a drawer nor is it possible for him to be a drawer by any means whatsoever; thus the prohibition does not include him at all. Also the drawing whose forbidding came in the ahadith has been described and its type limited, and this is the one which imitates the creation of Allah (swt) and the one in which the drawer resembles the Creator in relation to how he creates a thing. So he creates a picture either by drawing it from his mind or drawing it from its origin present in front of him; in both these cases he created the picture because he is the one in whom there is creativity. As for the photographic picture, it is not of this type since it is not creating the picture nor does creativity exist therein; it is merely printing the shadow of something existing upon film. Hence it is not considered from the types of drawing whose forbiddance came in the ahadith, and the ahadith do not apply upon it nor is it included under it in forbidding. The technical reality of the picture by hand and the photographic picture completely strengthens that; they are two types which differ completely. The technical picture drawn by hand and it is not the photographic picture (whether) technically or in creativity. From here, additionally, the photographic picture is allowed without blame in it.

This is in relation to drawing as it is. As for possessing the picture which is drawn, if it was in a place prepared for worship like a mosque, musalla and their like, this is definitely forbidden due to what came in the hadith of ibn Abbas (ra) that the Messenger (saw) refused to enter the Ka’aba until the pictures were effaced. This is a decisive request to leave so it becomes an evidence of forbidding. As for possessing it in a place not prepared for worship like houses, offices, schools etc there is detail and explanation therein. If the picture were possessed in a place where it is treated with respect, it is disliked (makruh) and not forbidden. If it is a place where it is not treated with respect, it is permitted without blame therein. As for its being disliked in the place where the picture is treated with respect, it is due to the hadith of A’isha (ra) that the Messenger (saw) removed the curtain which had a picture and the hadith of Abu Hurairah (ra) that Jibril refused to enter the house because there was a statue, picture and a dog therein. As for this dislike being specific to the picture placed in a place of respect and there being no blame if it exists in a place where it is not treated with respect, this is because of the hadith of Aisha (ra) that the Messenger (saw) removed the curtain in which there was a picture when it was elevated, and he leaned upon the elbow while there was a picture therein. And due to the hadith of Abu Hurairah (ra) in which Jibril said to the Messenger (saw):

This indicates that the prohibition is based upon placing the picture in a place of respect for it and it is not based upon possessing it. As for placing the picture in a place wherein it is treated with respect being disliked not forbidden, this is because the prohibition which came in the ahadith was not linked to any connotation indicating decisiveness like a threat against the possessor of the picture or censuring him or the like as came in drawing; rather it came merely requesting to leave (it). There came other hadith prohibiting possessing statues and permitting possessing the embroidered picture i.e. traced, which is considered a connotation that the prohibition is not decisive. In the hadith of Abu Talha in Muslim with the words:

And it came in the narration narrated by Muslim that he (saw) said:

This indicates the exclusion of the embroidered picture in the garment and its understanding is that the angels enter the house in which there is a carving embroidered upon a garment i.e. a picture traced/drawn in sketching. If this hadith is joined to the other prohibiting ahadith, it is a connotation that the request to leave is not decisive so possessing the picture in a place where it is treated with respect is disliked not forbidden.