Bigotry: The Dark Danger

The Idea that Painting and Sculpture Are Unlawful

The people who will receive the severest punishment from God will be the picture makers. (Sahih Bukhari, Book 72, Hadith 834)

Whoever makes a picture will be punished by God till he puts life in it, and he will never be able to put life in it. (Sahih Bukhari, Book 34, Hadith 428)

The most grievously tormented people on the Day of Resurrection would be the painters of pictures. (Sahih Muslim, Book 24, Hadith 5270)

The painter of these pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them, “Make alive what you have created." (Sahih Bukhari, Book 93, Hadith 646)

The angels do not enter a house where there are pictures. (Sahih Bukhari, Book 34, Hadith 318)

All the painters who make pictures would be in the fire of hell. The soul will be breathed in every picture prepared by him and it shall punish him in the hell. (Sahih Muslim, Book 24, Hadith 5272)

Through these false hadiths the fanatics make painting and sculpture unlawful for Muslims. Indeed, according to some fabricated hadiths, painters are regarded as among those who will suffer the worst torment in the hereafter. According to this perverse perspective, these people have attributed divinity to themselves, may God forbid, by imitating His creations. Yet what possible connection could there be between a painter or sculpture producing a work of art and claims of divine status? If a painter or a sculptor does make such a perverse claim, that can only be because of weakness of mind or soul, not because of the art he produces. And that is a possibility that applies to all people and all members of professions.

All the beauties in nature are works of art made by our Almighty Lord. We realize how glorious art can be by looking at these works of our Lord’s. In fact, almost every technology present in the world has been developed by imitating God’s creation. The existence of things created is a blessing for technology. For example, people imitate birds and some species of fly created by God when manufacturing airplanes. Since these planes were inspired by living things, they possess perfect flying abilities and maneuverability. This is an advantage because there are already perfectly functioning models in nature. This is a gift bestowed by God as a blessing on all engineers. Despite all the scientific advances that make our lives easier and more comfortable, today’s world of technology is simply a copy of these works of art in nature. God has created the models in nature and the technological copies of them as blessings for us.

The reason for the way that fanatics target the art of sculpture in particular actually lies in a tradition inherited from the past. In the past, when idol-worship was widespread, some rulers took measures against making statuettes in order to prevent people from worshiping idols. These measures, intended to avert potential dangers in these societies in the past, were literally propagated as a commandment of the faith, even though there is no such prohibition in the Qur’an. That is one of the worst pieces of damage caused by some people who prefer their traditions to the Qur’an.

We do not deprive ourselves of fire or the Sun just because Magians worship fire and other people worship the Sun, or we don’t kill cows just because Hindus have sacred cows so it is a genuinely primitive way of thinking to ban all statues just because there are some pagans who worship idols. What is wrong is to deify objects and other entities, and people who do that are those who commit unlawful deeds, not the objects themselves.

The arts of painting and sculpture that the fanatics prohibit for Muslims are most definitely not unlawful according to the Qur’an, the Book that is the guide for all Muslims. God loves art and causes His servants to love it; He has created the whole universe with art. There are no verses in the Qur’an that make fine arts such as painting and sculpture unlawful. On the contrary, works of art are praised in the Qur’an.

Statues and works of art praised as examples of majesty in the palace of the Prophet Solomon (pbuh) appear as follows in the Qur’an:

The technological world and all forms of scientific progress that make life more comfortable for us are all copies of works of art in nature. God creates the originals in nature and technological copies of them as blessings for us.

They made for him anything he wished: high arches and statues, huge dishes like cisterns, great built-in cooking vats. “Work, family of David, in thankfulness!” But very few of My servants are thankful. (Qur'an, 34:13)

The fanatics who ban these arts – despite these verses of the Qur’an – need to say what they think about the Prophet Solomon (pbuh), who had extraordinarily lovely statues in his palace.

These peddlers of superstition have wreaked great damage on Islamic societies. The Islamic world never managed to develop after the spread of such superstition about sculpture and painting. Societies that cannot develop art remain frozen, soulless and atrophied; they are closed to novelty. They gradually lose their creativity, ability to think practically and understanding of detail. Coldness and lack of taste are reflected in the places where they live and the way in which they behave toward one another. As a result of their turning their backs on art, monotony, coldness and lack of taste, devoid of grace, predominate in the dark world of the fanatics.