(1) This passage states unequivocally that the only alteration that makes it permissible to use an image is one that erases its distinguishing features so completely that it assumes an altogether different form. Some jurists have summarized this by saying, “If it is in such a state that it could not live, its use is lawful.” This wording, however, is inadequate—as is plain—and has therefore become a pretext for certain manipulators of the sacred texts who seek to evade them through strained interpretation or by subordinating them to human opinion. The clearest example is a lengthy article I read years ago in Majallat Nur al-Islam (later called Majallat al-Azhar). Its author concluded that a Muslim artist (!) may sculpt a fully formed idol, provided he drills a hole in the head reaching the brain, so that it would be incapable of living were it alive. The learned shaykh then displayed further ingenuity, suggesting that, to keep this defect from marring the statue artistically, the sculptor could place a wig over the hollowed head; thus the cavity would be concealed and the statue would appear flawless, satisfying the aesthetes—while supposedly also pleasing the Lawgiver! O Muslim, have you ever witnessed such manipulation of the sharia and its texts, such distortion published in a respected journal? By Allah, this resembles most closely the conduct of those upon whom abasement and destitution were laid, and Allah said