Statues and pictures are allowed in Shafafi Islam. Mainstream Muslims have been told that if there is a painting, photograph, or statue, then people will start worshipping it instead of God. This makes no sense on multiple levels.

The Kaaba in Mecca is said to be a directional “marker” that Muslims are supposed to pray toward. Mainstream Muslims insist they aren’t worshipping the Kaaba — yet they bow in front of it, touch it, kiss it, revere it, and cannot imagine replacing it. That is not how anyone treats “just a cube-shaped building.”

They reserve this logic only for themselves. Hinduism uses statues and paintings the same way — as symbols representing gods that cannot otherwise be seen, effectively directional markers of their own. There are millions of these images, yet mainstream Muslims still insist Hindus are worshipping stone and paint rather than an unseen god, while denying that the exact same arrangement applies to their own cube-shaped building.

The same double standard explains why Muhammad demolished statues of pre-Islamic gods in the Kaaba (“They were powerless, and thus, not worthy of worship“) — while the Kaaba itself, an equally powerless cube-shaped building, is still worshipped today.

Secondly, the fear that a picture or statue will convince a Muslim to worship it instead of God shows how weak the faith of that Muslim is. A true Muslim is not afraid of looking at pictures, statues, and reading Harry Potter. A true Muslim does not worry about believing and worshipping pictures, statues, or Lord Voldemort.

According to Shafafi Islam, there is no harm in creating or looking at photographs, paintings (even religious ones depicting God or Muhammad), statues, fiction literature (such as Harry Potter), or cube shaped buildings – no matter how many people worship in their direction.

The Kaaba is a cube-shaped building in a desert. It is not a marker, a magnet, or a mailbox. Shafafis do not face it, do not travel to it, and do not think about it.