Can one keep photos in house
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
A.A. Brother
Burhan, may ALLAH reward you for all that you are doing for the muslim
community. I have a few questions. First of all, i heard from somewhere that if
one has a photo in his/her house, angels will not enter it. But what if you
have photos of your family members, when they were small just for memories,
should we get rid of them, and if we don`t, is it a sin?
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none
can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright.
We bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
May Allah Subhanah reward you
with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of
encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. We humbly hope, beg, and pray the
Merciful Lord accept our humble and
weak efforts, forgive us our
shortcomings, and save you, us, and all the believers from the torment of
the Hell Fire. Ameen.
The Chief of the Angels, Hadrat Jibrael (a.s.) told Prophet Mohamed
(saws) that the Angels of Mercy do not enter a house where there are pictures
(or photos) of animate objects.
Thus, it would be inappropriate
for a believer in Allah and the Last Day,
to display photos or pictures of animate objects in his house.
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 7.841 Narrated by Abu Talha
The Messenger of
Allah (saws) said, "Angels (of
mercy) do not enter a house where there are pictures."
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 7.845 Narrated by Abu
Juhaifa
that he had bought
a slave whose profession was cupping.
The Prophet forbade taking the price of blood, and the price of a dog,
and the earnings of a prostitute, and cursed the one who took or gave (Riba')
usury, and the lady who tattooed others or got herself tattooed, and the picture-maker.
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 4.450 Narrated by Abu Salim
Once Gabriel promised
the Prophet (saws) that he would visit him, but Gabriel did not come, and later
on he said, "We, angels, do not enter a house which contains a picture, or a dog."
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 7.834 Narrated by Muslim
We were with Masruq
at the house of Yasar bin Numair. Masruq saw pictures on his terrace and said,
"I heard 'Abdullah saying that he heard the Prophet (saws) saying, "The people who will receive
the severest punishment from Allah will be the picture makers.' "
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 4.448 Narrated by Abu Talha
I heard the
Messenger of Allah (saws) 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)."
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 3.428 Narrated by 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."
The opinion of most scholars in
Islam is that there is no harm if one has his pictures taken for identification
purposes, passports, driving licenses, etc., or keeping pictures of loved ones in
albums, etc. What is prohibited is the open display of pictures or photos of
human beings and/or animals.
And Allah Alone Knows Best.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan