Picture in a Room Does Not Prevent Angels from Entering Other Rooms without Pictures

23-11-2021 | IslamWeb

Question:

If one lives with family that has pictures hung up around the house, but doesn’t keep pictures in their own room that they sleep in and spend their time in, do we know if angels would still enter that room because it does not have pictures, or would they not enter the house at all because of pictures in other rooms? This is in regards to the hadith about angels not entering homes that have images in them.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Hanging photographs in the house prevents the angels from entering it.

Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said:

Taking pictures with an instant photographic device that does not require the work of one’s hand, there is nothing wrong with this; because it does not come under photography, but still one has to ask the question: What is the purpose of taking the picture? If the purpose of taking the picture is for a person to acquire it, even as a souvenir, then this is forbidden. This is because the means have the same rulings as the purposes. Keeping pictures as a souvenir is forbidden because the Prophet informed us that the angels do not enter a house [here it means a room] in which there is a picture, and this is evidence that it is forbidden to keep pictures at home. As for hanging pictures on walls, then it is forbidden and it is not permissible, as the angels do not enter a house [room] in which there is a picture.”

As for hanging pictures in a room of the house, then this does not prevent the angels from entering the remaining other rooms as it appears. To illustrate this:

Al-Bayt in the language of the Arabs is similar to the meaning of the room in contemporary custom, and the meaning of Al-Bayt for them is not the same as the meaning of the house for the people now.

The book al-Kul-liyaat by Abu Al-Baqaa’ reads:

 البيت “Al-Bayt is a name of a single roof that has a corridor (or a hallway). المنزل Al-Manzil is a name for what includes rooms, a covered courtyard and a kitchen, in which a man and his family live. الدار Ad-Daar is a name for what includes a number of بيوت (rooms), منازل Manaazil (plural of Manzil) and an unroofed courtyard.” [End of quote]

The jurists have stated that the presence of forbidden things in another Bayt in the Daar other than the place of one’s presence, then this does not prevent the obligation of honoring an invitation [for a banquet, etc.]

Tuhfat al-Muhtaaj authored by Al-Haytami reads:

“As for what is forbidden and the like that has been mentioned above, in a place other than the place of one’s presence, such as another Bayt in the Daar, then it does not prevent the obligation of honoring an invitation, as some scholars have explicitly stated.” [End of quote]

This indicates that the presence of the picture in a room, its ruling does not apply to the remaining parts of the Manzil. This is the view held by some contemporary scholars, such as Ibn Uthaymeen .

Allah knows best.