Taking an animate picture out of necessity

· 2 Rabiʻ I 1440 AH1 min readEnglish

Question

I heard that photos of animate objects are prohibited. Now I am preparing for a lawsuit against my landlord to get my rights back and the court needs evidence. I need a cleaning receipt to back my words but the receipt contains a human animate picture. This receipt is from a large cleaning company and can only be accessed online and I must take a screenshot (like photo). I heard under necessity haram things become permissible and to defend property is a necessity? Can I take the photo? If not I fear that my argument could be very weak and more injustice can be done to me as a tenant.

Answer

Try your best to avoid taking the picture. If you are unable to recover your haqq (rights) without taking the picture, then you may take the picture. However you should regard taking the picture as impermissible and hence make tawba and delete the picture.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

Answered by
Mufti Zakaria Makada
Checked & approved by
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)
Questions about this ruling, answered only from the archive with sources.

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People also ask

Are photographs and taking pictures permissible?

“This is not permissible. Through you building a social media app where users will post pictures of animate objects, you will be involved in the sin of photography as well as inviting others to commit this grave sin.”

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