Is it allowed to take photos?

[PeaceUpOnMohamed]

Narrated Aisha: (mother of the faithful believers)


I bought a cushion with pictures on it. When Allah's Apostle saw it, he kept standing at the door and did not enter the house. I noticed the sign of disgust on his face, so I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I repent to Allah and H is Apostle . (Please let me know) what sin I have done."


Allah's Apostle said, "What about this cushion?" I replied, "I bought it for you to sit and recline on."


Allah's Apostle said, "The painters (i.e. owners) of these pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection. It will be said to them, 'Put life in what you have created (i.e. painted).' "


The Prophet added, "The angels do not enter a house where there are pictures."


Bukhari (Book #34, Hadith #318)

Salam


These pictures were sewn onto the cushion, and so the context doesnt really relate to the actual question, which asks about Photography. Photography is capturing light, we capture what we see phsyically just we do with our eyes, but we capture that mentally.


If the law on this is relating to only what the hand <b>creates</b> (Photography doesnt create, it captures. The only creation involved is what we use to hold onto these images, e.g. the paper), then e.g. painting and drawing images that imply phsyical life (such as an animal or human being) are deemed to be haram. Right? :wacko:


And if this is so, can anyone give further guidelines as how we define 'living' or 'life' in terms of images. I can understand it from that point of view, but if the underline reason is that we dont immitate Allah, by attempting to have some creations of our own e.g. on a piece of paper, then why we is it allowed to draw images of e.g. flowers, mountains, basically anything that is created by Allah - shouldnt all drawing be haram then? :huh: