Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Is it wrong to hang family pictures up on walls? I have heard that there is a hadith that says something about angels not entering houses where pictures of people are displayed…. Is there really such a hadith? After hearing that this hadith may be true, I told my parents that we should take down all the pictures in our house. They did not agree to this, but we all decided that we would only hang pictures up in one room of the house and we would not pray in that one specific room. We figured that angels would come to the other rooms where there are not any pictures so we could pray there. Is this a good idea or not?
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
The basis of the issue is whether photos of humans and animals fall under the type of picture-making prohibited by the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) so sternly.
There are two opinions about this. See: Reliance of the Traveller.
One opinion does consider photos to be prohibited picture-making. This is the position of my teachers, and the more cautious and arguably stronger opinion. According to this, hanging photos on the wall would be impermissible and sinful, and the hadiths about angels not entering a house with pictures would be considered to apply.
The other position — held by major scholars, as well — is that photos are different from the prohibited picture-making. Thus, the other rulings would not be considered to apply.
And Allah alone gives success.