Pictures & Videos

Q: In mobile phones there are pictures in menus that we cannot delete, e.g. my contact list has the symbol of the silhouette of a human head. When we use messenger there is an icon with a smiley face displayed all the time. When you click it you can choose images you want to insert. This smiley icon is always displayed on the messenger screen. You cannot get rid of it. Can we still use the messenger, knowing we will use phrases like insha Allah etc. so Allah's Name would be displayed on the same screen as the smiley icon?

Q: Can a muslim use youtube as controvertial movies against the prophet mohammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) are still there?

Q: Whilst the impermissibility of picture-making is known, whether it be digital or not, what is the ruling on looking at such pictures which are not of a haraam nature, for example looking at the picture of a man or a dog, etc. Many a times a person doesn't create pictures himself, but e-mails, etc are forwarded to him with pictures, if he looks at it, is it Haraam/Makrooh/Khilaaf-e-Awlaa or nothing wrong with looking?

Q: In light of recent developments in our country what is the view of the senior 'Ulama and Muftiyan concerning the appearance of 'Ulama on TV - in  particular "Islamic" TV Channels or YouTube?

Q: I work in a construction site and almost everyday I need to give report to client about the activities going on on site, for this report client require me to take photos of the activities. In the site activities, there will be worker who doing their work so if I take photos obviously it will take the picture of the worker also. The intention is to take the pictures of the situation on site and the focus is not on the worker. So is it still not permissible to take this kind of photos since inevitably photos of human will be taken as well? How about take the photo in such a way that only the backs of the workers and seen, or take the picture of the worker is small enough that you cant see their eyes/faces.

Q: At a recent Islamic school event the MC and subsequent speakers were streamed live to the female section of the hall. In this way the females were able to view a live feed of the speakers (all male) without the speakers being able to see them. Is this permissable?

Q: In the Arabic TV series about Omar Ibn Al Khattab, a Jew is shown fighting along with the Muslims in the battle of Badr. Is there evidence for this having happened in reality - did a few Jews participate on the Muslim side in the battles of Badr and Uhud (i.e. without first having converted to Islam)?

Q: The ijma of scholars have permitted painting of tress, flowers etc which are considered as living and have also permitted painting of nature like mountains, rivers, sun, moon etc. Why do these things, not fall into the category of challenging Allah or painting like of his creation?

Is there any hadith to support the view that painting living things like trees, flowers, mountains, rivers etc permitted in Islam?
The reason why I am asking this is because I had a conversation with a non-muslim friend and provided an argument that painting living is like challenging the God, but I wasn’t able to answer, even trees, mountains, rivers, sun, moon are creation of God, then why the same logic isn’t applicable here.

Q: We would like to query whether it is permissable to use lifestyle images for our advertising indoor and outdoor.

Q: Is video calls permissible? That is, together with speaking to the person, you can see his face? Is skype permissible? Is facebook permissible?