Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be
upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
One has to know about a few things first:
1)
If the pictures are of living beings such as humans and beasts. (Having
bodily form) they are prohibited, according to all the scholars of
Islam.
2)
If they are the pictures of non-living beings such as oceans, trees,
mountains, they are permissible, regardless, embodied, photographed or
not. There is a consensus on that.
3)
Permissibility of photographing living beings such as humans or animals
is a point of disagreement among contemporary scholars. Some say it is
prohibited, owing to generalization of the evidence that prevents
picture-making. As the Prophet says:
'The angels do not enter the house in which there is dog or a picture'.
[Reported by Imams Bukhari and Muslim].
He also says:
'Verily, the picture-makers will be punished on Resurrection Day, and
they will be asked to bring the thing they made to life.'
[Reported by Imams Bukhari and Muslim].
His word 'The people of pictures' also means 'the photographers'. And he
also says:
'The photographer is one who will be the most severely punished'.
[Reported by Imam Muslim]
A few other scholars bent to the permissibility of the photography. They
argue that the reason in the prohibition is resemblance to the creation
of Allah. And the picture taken/photographed by the machine is the same
thing created by Allah and not its resemblance.
It is, however, known that a Muslim ought to avoid photography as a
profession. At the same time we warn you that all the scholars agree
that the photography of naked women, or private parts of man and woman,
that need to be covered at any case, or the sensitive/provocative organs
of the women etc., is not permissible. We also bring to your notice that
those who rule its prohibition, however, allow taking photographs when
one is forced to do so, like the photos for ID cards, travel permits,
etc., which are required.
Allah Knows best.
