Cinema, images and photographs

Question

(1) ʿUmar is fond of the cinema; he goes there on the pretext that edifying things are gained from it. Can going to the cinema be permissible in any case? (2) Is there any difference between an image (taswir) and a photograph or not? What is the Shariʿa ruling on keeping a photograph? The answer must be detailed and from reliable books.

Answer

(1) Are edifying words not available to ʿUmar anywhere in the gathering of righteous people, that he goes to this gathering of idle play and amusement which is contrary to the Shariʿa? All of this is a stratagem (hila) and a trick of the nafs. Going to such a place is in no way permissible in the Shariʿa. (2)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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