Ibn Umar reports Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) having said: “Those who paint pictures would be punished on the Day of Resurrection and it would be said to them: Breathe soul into what you have created.”
(Sahih Muslim)
This hadīth declares preparation of pictures whether with the help of colour, paint, a pencil or photographic camera as forbidden and unlawful in the eyes of Islam.
Those who prepare pictures would be asked on the Day of Resurrection to breathe soul in these pictures. And when they would not be able to do so, they would be punished because that was the vain ambition of the artist in competing with Allah in His act of creation.
This vain pursuit of drawing pictures led people to the cult of idolatry. In the present too some people indulge themselves in this foolish act with variant names as well as in the name of idolatry. In the past, pictures were used as a means of propagating the worship of saints and apostles. But at present they are used as a means of propagating hero-worship, which is another form of idolatry. The pictures and statues of heroes are revered today with the same devotion and passion with which the demigods were worshipped in the past.
Besides, in the name of art for art’s sake, nude and semi-nude pictures are drawn in caves and temples, and on walls and screens. History bears witness that painting or screening of such pictures has wreaked havoc to the moral health of the human race.