(305) Chapter: Prohibition of Drawing Portraits

Ibn 'Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) 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].

Commentary: A painter will be punished for his paintings according to the number of his products. The greater the number of paintings he has produced, the more would be the punishment. Thus, there is a great warning for those who make films and photographs on marriages and functions because they make photographs of hundreds or thousands of persons at a time. If, in spite of knowing that this act is unlawful in Shari`ah, they do it on account of slackness on their part, they shall have to suffer heavy punishment for it in Hell. If they think that it is permissible in Islam, while it is forbidden, they would be regarded infidels and abide in Hell. It is absolutely wrong to think that this prohibition applies only to the painters or sculptors and that photographs taken by a camera is not a picture but a mere reflection and, therefore, one is exempted from their prohibition. Whether a picture is made by hand or cameraor video, it is a picture and its maker is warned with Hell. May Allah save us from it. However, pictures of natural scenery which are lifeless are permissible.