Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterDestruction of Buddhist statues, pyramids, sphinx, etc.
Question
The Buddhist statues that were recently destroyed in Afghanistan, were they destroyed because of Qur'an and/or Hadith? Should they have been saved for history's sake? What about the Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt? They have faces, should they be destroyed also? Some people tell me no because the Pyramids are tombs? What is the ruling? Please supply Qur'an and Hadith.
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
It is true that there is valid evidence from the Hadith of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) and the acts of his companions to make it lawful for the Afghans to destroy Buddha's statue in Afghanistan. Please find below some of the Hadith in this regard:
1) " Amru Ibn Absa reported that when first met the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) I asked Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) who are you? He replied: "I am a Messenger sent by Allah". I further asked him: 'What is the task you are sent to accomplish?' He replied: "To maintain close family relationship, destroy the idols and maintain the monotheism of Allah and deny the attribute of divinity to anyone other than Allah" . [Narrated by Imam Muslim ]
2) "Muslim narrated that Abu al-Hiyaj al-Asadi reported that Ali Ibn Abi Talib sent me as an envoy and advised me saying I am tasking you as the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) tasked me: You have to destroy all statues and level all raised tombs" .
3) "Abu Hurairah reported: The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Gabriel came to see me and he said: "I came to visit you last night but I did not enter the house where you were staying because at the entrance of that house there a statue of a man, and a curtain on which a figure was printed and there was a dog in the house. Get the head of the statue cut off so as to be like a tree, let the curtain be cut into pieces and made a cushion to be placed on the floor, let them get the dog out of the house". The Messenger of Allah did so as he was told by Gabriel" . This Hadith is an evidence against those who argue that the statue needs not to be destroyed unless it is worshipped or it is feared to be worshipped.
The above-mentioned Hadith constitute clear evidence that, according to the teachings of Islam, the statues should be destroyed and raised tombs should be leveled with the ground. If the sphinx or pyramids or any other statues contain tombs these are two reasons to destroy the same. First, because they are raised tombs and secondly because they are statues.
Allah knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
