Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 12 October 2016| 10 Muharram 1438
Selfies are fast becoming a trend. In today’s day and age we find many Muslims disregard the basic principle concerning making pictures of any animate being, whether it is a human or any animal, is that it is haraam, whether the pictures are three-dimensional or are drawn on paper, cloth or walls, etc., or are photographs.
Among the ahaadeeth which state that this is haraam and that it is a major sin is the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him), who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: ‘Whoever makes an image in this world will be told to breathe the soul into it on the Day of Resurrection, and he will never be able to do that.’” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim)
He [Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him)] also narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Every image-maker will be in the Fire, and every image that he made will be made to appear to him and will torment him in Hell.” Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “If you must do that, then make trees and things that have no soul.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim)
The general meaning of the ahaadeeth is that it is absolutely forbidden to make images of anything that has a soul.
Apart from selfies being haram read the following article to find out how a selfie caused the death of 2 young girls.
Muscat: Two Sri Lankan girls drowned on Saturday evening after attempting to take a selfie next to the Ain Jarziz water spring in Salalah.
The girls, who were on a family picnic, were posing for the picture when one of them slipped.
“She grabbed the hand of the other girl who fell down with her in the water,” an official with the Royal Oman Police (ROP) told Gulf News.
Zainab Tuaurashed, a student at a local private school, was the girl who lost her footing first and in her desperation she held on to Ruwan Delsara Herath Samarweera, 13, who attended the Indian School Salalah.
The parents of the girls called rescue teams, who set out straight away. But, Ain Jarziz is about 15km from Salalah and, by the time the rescue teams arrived, the girls, both of whom could not swim, had already drowned.
They were declared dead on arrival at Sultan Qaboos Hospital in Salalah.
The tragedy was the first selfie-related death in the country, according to the ROP.
Ain Jarziz is a tourist spot that is popular among people heading out for picnics.
Safety experts have called for ‘No Selfie Zones’ to be introduced around rugged tourist spots after the tragic incident, but authorities say there are no such plans yet.
Drowning cases are common in Oman, as people continue to disregard warnings from authorities against swimming in choppy seas and areas prone to flash floods. Children make up the majority of drowning victims as they are often dragged away by strong currents.
Source – Gulf news
