Images in the Quran and the Hadiths
In the Islamic realm, the images at issue are those of beings endowed with Rûh[1], that is humans and animals. The Quran does not make references to images as such. What it strictly forbids is the adoration of idols, a practice predominant, though not exclusive, in pre-Islamic Arabia. In the hadiths, a more explicit stance is to be found. Two points are raised:
Images are impure: angels will not enter the house where an image is to be found.
The authors of sura[2] , the misawwirun do “sin by pride”: they add their creatures to God's own. On the Day of Judgment[3], He will ask them to breath a soul into their creatures. As they will fail, they will be sentenced to Hell's worst tortures for all eternity
The position of those who speak for traditional Islam was defined on the basis of these references: figurative representations are tolerated when they are not placed in a ritual space, as this must remain uncontaminated by any potentially contentious image. For centuries, however, the matter did not particularly exercise the believers and little has been written on the subject. Only in the late modern period did it rear its head.
