FIRST SUBJECT
THE SHARIA' TEXTS THAT DEAL WITH SCULPTURE AND THE MAKING OF STATUES

Section One : Texts from the Quran

All the texts that deal with idols prohibit worshipping them, or using them as intermediaries to win Allah's favor. In the Quran there are no verses that speak of sculpture in itself, except in a few occasions, as when Allah said : "And (appoint him) an apostle to the Children of Israel, (with this message): “I have come to you, with a Sign from your Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by God's leave" (Al-Imran 49)⁽¹⁾. Allah wanted that the statue maker be Jesus (peace be upon him), and that he breathe into it and it be­come a real bird by Allah's will. Allah could have turned his prophet away from this act and could have shown Himself to people crea­tures that are made out of nothing without being touched by any human being. In fact, these are examples of the miracles and tribula­tions that bring home the idea that sin is commensurate with the in­tention of the doer. Those who believe that Allah is the creator are among the faithful and those who think that the Prophet is a magi­cian cast their lot in full conscience with the infidels.

It is indisputable that the Prophets are infallible and immune to sin. If sculpture were in fact forbidden in itself we would not have found a Quranic verse like the following which says : "They worked for him as he desired, (making) arches, statues, basons as large as reservoirs, and (cooking) cauldrons fixed (in their places) : Work ye, Sons of David, with thanks! But few of My servants are grate­ful!"(Saba' 13). It is clear from this verse that the making of sta­tues, as long as it is devoid of idolatry and not associated with any intentions that make it subject to prohibition, is not considered a sin. If it were prohibited in itself, the Prophet Solomon's workers would not have been allowed to make him all the statues he desired as is mentioned in this verse.

Allah's word is infallible and is above contradiction. If we look closely in Allah's Venerable Book, we will find that the prohibition of polytheism and idolatry concerns those beliefs that were deeply entrenched in the souls of statue makers and buyers. Allah said "He said : "Worship ye that which ye have (yourselves) carved? But God created you and your handiwork!" (Saffat 95-96).

It is doubtless that any intention that harbors idolatry will lead to infidelity, whether it is a matter of statues or anything else. The context of infidelity is belief in itself; as for physical acts in them­selves, some of them are definitely of an infidel nature, like bo­wing to statues, while others are not. If we see, for example, so­meone burning Allah's Book, we will ask the following questions: Is he doing that out of respect and veneration because he found an obliteration in it and he does not want to let it be thrown in the dustbin ? Or is he doing that out of haughtiness and arrogance, in which case he would be committing an objectionable act of infideli­ty ? This shows that certain acts are not good or bad in themselves except when they are related to an intention.

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) says : "Acts are determined by their intentionality". And this saying is at the basis of the follo­wing theological ride: "Everything depends on the purpose it is used for"⁽²⁾

The question that we should ask is the following: What intentions go hand in hand with the making of a statue or a sculpture ? This is what we will deal with in the following chapter.

Section two : The Texts of Tradition

Some texts of the Tradition have shown some of the intentions that may go hand in hand with an act of this kind. The Blessed Companion Abu Hurayra said that the Prophet (PBUH) said that Allah the Great said : "None is more sinning than those who try to emulate Me in the act of creation; let them create an atom, a grain or a bead if they can"⁽³⁾.

Aïsha (May Allah Bless Her) also reported that the Prophet (PBUH) said : "Those who will receive the severest penalty on the Day of Judgement are those who emulate God in creation'⁽⁴⁾.

The opinion that the image maker will be subject to the highest punishment was in contradiction with Allah's saying : "Cast yo, the People of Pharaoh into the severest penalty" (Ghafir 46). This means that the idolater will be subject to a penalty more severe than that of the People of the Pharaoh. But Attabari explained that what is meant here is the following : whoever deliberately and intentionally makes an image to be worshiped instead of Allah has thereby reneged and committed an act of infidelity. His lot will doubtless be cast with the People of the Pharaoh. Yet those who do not have that intention could not be said to be infidel but disobedient⁽⁵⁾.

In this context, it appears that forbidding concerns images and statues that aim at worshipping and idolatry.

Ibn Abbas (MGBH) said : "I heard the Prophet (PBUH) say : For every image that an image maker makes, he will get a soul to suffer in hell"⁽⁶⁾.

And in a traceable Hadith : "He who makes an image in life will be asked to breathe life into it and will not avail"⁽⁷⁾.

The Prophet (PBUH) mentioned the cause, namely the imitation of the divine act of creation ; to Allah alone belong creation and command ; He is the Lord and the owner of everything ; He only can create and make creatures and can endow them with souls that make life possible⁽⁸⁾ .

Some scholars have explained what is meant by emulating the di­vine act of creation in the mentioned Hadith when they said : "They emulate Allah's creation when they compare the outcome of their act of representation to Allah's animate creatures. He who makes images of animals or human beings for the purpose of worshipping them or in order to emulate Allah's creative act will suffer greatly for his infidelity. He who did not intend that is a mere wanton. It is not forbidden to make images of whatever is inanimate or has no model as in the case of a winged man"⁽⁹⁾.

It is therefore clear that the forbidden act resides in statue or image making that aims at pretending to create in the same manner that Allah the Great does. Yet if the image maker's intention was devoid of this intention, we believe that does not imply any infide­lity or godlessness. Think simply of the farmer who makes a scare crow to scare off birds, or of the medical professor who has an image or a three-dimensional representation of a human being made for him in order to use it as an illustration in his medical courses or anatomy sessions. All of these are legitimate acts that do not pretend to create.

It was reported by Attabarani, Al Hakim, Al Bayhaqi and others that Abi Rafi' said that among the reasons why Verse 4 of the Ma'ida Surah was revealed "They ask thee what is lawful to them (as food)" was that Jibril came to the Prophet (PBUH) and asked for permission to come in and was granted that but did not come in; the Prophet then put on his coat and went out to meet him as he was standing at the door. The Prophet said: we gave you per­mission. Jibril saïd : yes, but we do not enter places where there are images and dogs. It was reported also that Mohammed Ibn Ka'b Al Quradhi said : when the Prophet (PBUH) ordered killing of dogs, some people asked : O Allah's Messenger what is lawful to us (as food) ? It was established that Ibn Abi Hatim reported that Saïd Ibn Jubayr said that Uday Ibn Hatim Atta'i and Zaïd Ibn Al Muhallal Atta'i asked the Prophet (PBUH): O Allah's Messenger, we are a hunting tribe; we use dogs and falcons, and Al Dhurayh's dogs hunt wild cows, zebras and deer ; but Allah forbade eating dead meat; what is then lawful to us as food ? The Surah was then revealed in response to their query⁽¹⁰⁾. The verses of the Surah went into detail in showing that Allah made lawful to them whate­ver is hunted by their trained dogs; the Hadith also made lawful the use of dogs in pasturing, and in the protecting the crop⁽¹¹⁾. By ana­logy then we can say that dogs can also be used for other purposes such as guarding houses and shops. This means that the general rule allows for some exceptions, which is a sign of divine grace⁽¹²⁾.