Q: The following was asked to me:
What is the ruling on digital photography?
Is it Haram or Makrooh-e-Tahreemi amalan Haram?
If it is Haram, then on what basis?
From what I understand, a Haram ruling is given when the action is explicitly comes in Nas. However, a Makrooh-e-Tahreemi ruling is given when there is no explicit Nas.
Digital photography does not come explicitly in the Nusoos, as the Nusoos are speaking about paintings, etc. or animated images on paper etc.
I would like an informative answer, please, so I can silence the person who has asked this question. I do not know how to give a good answer in a way that completely dispels the other person's doubts.
Also another question from my side: Is photography a Mukhtalaf fih Mas'alah or a Ijma' Mas'alah? If it the latter then who's Ijma'?
A: The nass is that a picture is haraam and a picture is what the urf says is a picture. This classification of digital in our understanding is incorrect. It has to be reviewed. All pictures are the same and will have the same ruling. There are over 50 riwaayaat in Saheeh Bukhaari on the prohibition of tasweer.
According to Hadhrat Moulana Yusuf Binnori (rahmatullahi alaih) and other senior ulama of India and Pakistan, like Mufti Shafee Sahib and Mufti Mahmood Sahib (rahmatullahi alaihima), it is ijmaa`ee. People have wrongly interpreted it as mukhtalaf feeh.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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