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Why Do Islamic Authorities Destroy Painting and Sculpture?
Islamic doctrine mandates that idols be destroyed. Applying sadd al-dharāʾiʿ (سَدُّ الذَّرَائِع)—“blocking the means”—Muslim scholars extend the prohibition to drawings, paintings and sculptures depicting animate beings that could possibly lead to idol worship.
Islam Q&A cites Prophet Muhammad PBUH:
“Every image maker will be in the Fire.”
The ruling is not confined to religious images. Islam Q&A says that the prohibition applies to images on paper, cloth, walls and other surfaces, whether the subject is real or imaginary.
If anything could lead to what is forbidden, then anything can be forbidden.
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Imam Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi (c. 931–998) was an influential Sunni hadith scholar and Shafi‘i jurist. He taught that the prohibition extended to representations of animate beings, whether sculpted, engraved, painted or woven.
This is not the invention of a modern fundamentalist Islamic movement; it is fundamental Islam.
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Islam Q&A addresses this issue directly:
Is it obligatory to destroy statues in Islam, even if they are part of the legacy of human civilization?
Answer:
The ruling cites an instruction attributed to Prophet Muhammad PBUH:
“Do not leave any image without defacing it.”
It also cites Muhammad as saying that he was sent “to break the idols.”
There is no obvious distinction between a statue and an idol within this ruling. A three-dimensional representation of an animate being, sculpture or painting is strictly prohibited.
The Taliban’s destruction of the 1,500-year-old Buddhas in Afghanistan was not gratuitous vandalism. It was an act of devotion.
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