The status of portraits

[czgibson]

Greetings everyone,

This came out of the "smilies" thread. I'd like to find out the Islamic position on pictures of people, and how it developed.

Am I right in thinking that portraits are forbidden in Islam? I notice that much Islamic art consists of passages from the Qur'an and intricate abstract patterns, but no faces.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Peace

[eyes_of_mine]

So far as I know pictures of people and creatures are forbidden, coz its like the artist is trying to create what allah has created, i,e copying allah creation. someone else more knowledgeable can do more in depth than me, but as I know thats the basic understand of why pics are forbidden, as in creating one (artist) and hanging them on the walls is also not allowed, but keeping a private collection apparently is halal, again someone correct me if im wrong.

[czgibson]

Greetings,

Thanks for your reply.

The issue clearly has something to do with creation. I wonder if it's the act of copying Allah's creation or the act of creation itself, which could be seen to be a bold (and inevitably inferior) imitation of Allah's work.

I found this page, which deals with the question:

Prohibition of Drawing

It quotes from the hadiths in Bukhari; some of the Prophet's (pbuh) statements seem quite extreme to me, like this one:

1680. Ibn `Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) saying, "Every painter will go to Hell, and for every portrait he has made, there will be appointed one who will chastise him in the Hell.'' Ibn `Abbas said: If you have to do it, draw pictures of trees and other inanimate things.
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

So, painters might feel worried, but then the quote from Ibn `Abbas seems to change things slightly. I think a landscape painter like John Constable would be thoroughly confused by this - would he be going to hell?

The commentary is no help at all, due to incompatible sentences like these three being in the same paragraph:

A painter will be punished for his paintings according to the number of his products . . .Whether a picture is made by hand or camera or video, it is a picture and its maker is warned with Hell . . . However, pictures of natural scenery which are lifeless are permissible.

Confusion abounds.

Once again, I'm in my usual state of not being able to understand! :confused:

Peace

[Muezzin]

I personally always thought it had something to do with leading to idolatory but that's just my opinion and I'm no scholar.

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[Uthman]

Greetings Callum, :)

An article by a trustworthy scholar can be found here: http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/sunnah/0001.htm

Also: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/S...=1119503546438

These are the more trustworthy sources, although I admit I don't know much about witness-pioneer.

I had also heard about what Muezzin said, that portraits are prohibited as they are a possible pathway to committing Shirk. I've heard that too.

Peace,

Osman