Earning Money by Selling Pictures Online: Permissible?

10 August, 2018

Q I like taking pictures. They are usually landscapes. There are many websites that display photos and gives certain amount to the photographer for every download of his image. Is the money that the photographer gets halal? I wanted to make some money out of the photos I take. So is it permissible?

Answer

Sheikh Ahmad Kutty

10 August, 2018

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

There is nothing wrong with earning money by selling pictures online.

In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

Photography today is a medium of communication. So, if you are a professional photographer and you want to sell what you produce, there is nothing un-Islamic about it.

You are merely earning your living through honest work – provided, of course, the pictures are in no way lewd or promoting vices or encouraging nudity.

So, if you are taking pictures of nature and landscapes, there is nothing questionable about it.

Almighty Allah knows best.