PROHIBITION OF DEPICTING ANIMATE LIFE

One should realize that the prohibition of picture making is EXTREMELY
SEVERE, that it is counted among the enormities, and the threats
against doing it are very emphatic. ImamBukhari and Imam Muslim relate
that a mancame to Ibn Abbas (Allah be well pleased with himand his
father) and said, "My livelihood comes solely from my hands, and I
make these pictures. Can you give me a legal opinion about them" Ibn
Abbas told him, "Come closer,' and the man did. "Closer," he said, and
theman did, until he put his hand on the man's head and said: "Shall I
tell you what I heard from the Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammed
(Allah bless him and givehim peace) I heard the Messenger of Allah
say, "Every maker of pictures will go to the fire, wherea being will
be set upon him to torment him in hell for each picture he made. So if
you must, draw tress and things without animate life in them."
And Imam Tirmidhi relates that the Prophet (Allah bless him and
givehim peace) said, "On the Day of Judgment, part ofthe hell fire
will come forth with two eyes withwhich to see, two ears with which to
hear, and a tongue with which to speak, saying, 'I have been ordered
to deal with three: he who holds there is another god besides Allah,
with every arrogant tyrant, and with makers of pictures."
And Bukhari, Tirmidhi, and Imam Nasa'i relate the prophetic hadith
form Ibn Abbas, "Whoever makes a picture, Allah shall torture him with
it on the Day of Judgment until he can breathe life into it, and he
will never be able to."
The reason for the unlawfulness of pictorialrepresentation is that it
imitates the creative act of Allah Most High, as is indicated by the
hadith related by Imam Bukhariand Imam Muslim that A'isha (Allah be
well pleased with her) said, "The Prophet (Allah blesshim and give him
peace)returned from a trip, and I had draped a cloth with picture on
it over a small closet. When he saw it, he ripped it down, his face
colored, and he said, "A'isha, the people most severely tortured by
Allah on the Day of Judgment will be those who try to imitate what
Allah has created,"
The foregoing hadiths show that producing representation is unlawful
under any circumstances, and just as making a picture is unlawful, so
too is procuring one, because the threat that pertains to the users,
for pictures are only made to be used.
The determining factor in the prohibition of procuring images is the
purposes for which they are procured. For example, someone who buys
cookies with the shape of animals is not doing wrong if his purpose is
to eat, though the maker of them is doing wrong. And similarly with
books containing pictures, if the buyer intends obtaining the text,
then the presence of pictures is the fault of the printer, not the
buyer. The same holds for photographs required for official documents:
the authorities are responsible for the sin, not the individual
forcedto comply.