012_Blobs on my Blog_Why ban photography_2013_09_17_My pictures are your passport to fame!
The Blobs are confused.
To click or not to click is what is bothering them… Ms Blob remarked, ‘I cannot go and take photographs in a cricket match, the government bans photography inside so many buildings, and even temples are against clicking the idols. Now we cannot click the man on the street too.’
This was a shocker for Mr Blob. He asked, ‘You mean we can’t click people on the street?’
‘Yes, Mufti Abdul Qasim Nomani, Mohtamim or the vice chancellor of Darul Uloom in Deoband has announced that photography is un-Islamic. Muslims are not allowed to get their photos clicked unless it is for an identity card or for making a passport. So when you click on the streets, you might first need to make sure that no muslims are in the frame.’
‘Funny,’ said Mr Blob, though his mind had already begun to sketch a ‘shoot or die’ scenario. Funnily the spelling of ‘die’ in his mind’s toon was ‘dye’ and he asked Ms Blob if she had any idea why it was so.
‘That’s simple,’ she said, ‘You just go ahead and click and tell anyone who objects that you aren’t shooting, you’re clicking. After all, shooting is a legal offence, as well. So they’re right in wanting no shooting of innocent muslims. And tell him also that all your clothes are already dyed.’
‘OK,’ replied Mr Blob and asked, ‘is this why most of them dye their hair red?’ Ms Blob didn’t answer to that absolutely silly observation but did inform him that India’s leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom has issued a fatwa, saying “photography is unlawful and a sin”. She also added that the All India Muslim Law Personal Board member Mufti Abul Irfan Qadri Razzaqi also agreed with Nomani’s fatwa: “Islam forbids photographing of humans and animals. Whoever does that will be answerable to Allah.”
‘But that’s just fine,’ she went on, ‘You can click mosques because they are such lovely structures with all their complex calligraphy.’
‘How about clicking muslims when they’re bent during namaz?’ asked Mr Blob apprehensively.
‘Shut up,’ said Ms Blob, ‘you’d better start wearing a tee that says ‘My pictures are your passport to fame!’ and hope they understand.’
Arvind Passey
17 September 2013
