What is the ruling on taking pictures surreptitiously and transmitting them?
Question

                What is the ruling on taking pictures surreptitiously, especially pictures of women, and transmitting them via mobile phones or via the internet, and the poor women do not know about that?.
Praise be to Allah.
    Doing this is undoubtedly haraam, and it involves several 
    things that are forbidden according to sharee’ah, including the following: 

    1 – Transgressing the limits set by Allaah. Allaah says 
    (interpretation of the meaning): 
“And whosoever 
    transgresses the set limits of Allaah, then indeed he has wronged himself”

    [al-Talaaq 65:1]

    2 – Looking at ‘awrahs which it is forbidden to look at. The 
    Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not 
    follow one glance with another, for the first is allowable but not the 
    second.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in 
    Saheeh al-Tirmidhi. 
3 – Transgressing 
    against the sanctity of another Muslim. The Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Every Muslim is sacred to his fellow 
    Muslim – his blood, his wealth and his honour.” 

    4 – If the one who takes the picture took it for a reason and 
    is one who is allowed to see her ‘awrah, such as a female doctor or a 
    friend, etc, then her taking and transmitting her picture is a betrayal of 
    trust, and there are many well-known texts which condemn betrayal. The 
    Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The one who 
    is not trustworthy is not a believer, and the one who does not keep his 
    promises is not religiously-committed.” Narrated by Ahmad and classed as 
    saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 7179. 

    5 – This action causes harm and annoyance to believing women, 
    and Allaah has issued a warning to those who harm and annoy believing men 
    and women for no offence on their part, as He says (interpretation of the 
    meaning): 
“And those who annoy 
    believing men and women undeservedly, they bear (on themselves) the crime of 
    slander and plain sin”

    [al-Ahzaab 33:58]

    The words translated here as “undeservedly” mean: without 
    them having committed a crime for which they deserve to be annoyed, i.e., 
    punished. The phrase “they bear (on themselves) the crime of slander” 
    means, for annoying them for no reason; “plain sin” refers to their 
    aggression against them and their transgression of the sacred command of 
    Allaah. 

    See Tafseer al-Sa’di, p. 1120 

    The crime is more serious if that involves annoying or 
    harming a neighbour. 
Muslim (64) narrated 
    from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of 
    Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “No one from 
    whose harm his neighbour is not safe will enter Paradise.” 

    “Harm” here means wrongdoing, deceit and annoyance. 

    6 – This is similar to the action of the hypocrites who used 
    to harrass the believing women. Allaah issued a stern warning to them when 
    He said (interpretation of the meaning): 

    “If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease 
    (evil desire for illegal sex), and those who spread false news among the 
    people in Al‑Madeenah stop not, We shall certainly let you overpower them, 
    then they will not be able to stay in it as your neighbours but a little 
    while.
61. Accursed, they shall 
    be seized wherever found, and killed with a (terrible) slaughter”
[al-Ahzaab 33:60-61]

    “We shall certainly let you overpower them” means: We 
    will command you to punish them and fight them, and We will give you power 
    over them. 
The verse does not 
    mention the action that they are supposed to stop doing, rather it includes 
    every evil action that occurred to them, such as insulting Islam and its 
    followers, spreading false rumours about the Muslims, seeking to sow discord 
    among them, accusing the believing women of bad and immoral actions, and 
    other sins committed by such people. 

    See Tafseer al-Sa’di, p. 1121 

    7 – It goes against the Islamic command to seek permission 
    before entering people’s houses. Allaah says (interpretation of the 
    meaning): 

    “O you who believe! Enter not houses other than your own, 
    until you have asked permission and greeted those in them; that is better 
    for you, in order that you may remember.

    28. And if you find no one therein, still, enter not until 
    permission has been given. And if you are asked to go back, go back, for it 
    is purer for you. And Allaah is All‑Knower of what you do”

    [al-Noor 24:27]

    Imam al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

    “Chapter: Seeking permission to enter has been ordained 
    because of the gaze”  

    al-Haafiz said: 

    i.e., it was prescribed because of that, because if a person 
    enters without permission he may see something that the person whose house 
    it is does not want him to see. A clear example of that appears in the 
    report narrated by al-Bukhaari in al-Adab al-Mufrad, and by Abu 
    Dawood and al-Tirmidhi, and classed as hasan by the latter, from Thawbaan 
    and attributed to the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon 
    him): “It is not permissible for a Muslim to look inside a house until he 
    has asked permission; once he has done that, he has entered.” Classed as 
    saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Adab al-Mufrad.  So once he has 
    been given permission, then it is as if he has already entered, i.e., he 
    comes under the same ruling as someone who is already inside the house. 

    Moreover al-Bukhaari (6241) and Muslim narrated that Sahl ibn 
    Sa’d (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “A man looked through a hole at 
    the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and the 
    Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had a stick with 
    which he was scratching his head. He said: “If I had known that you were 
    watching, I would have stabbed you in the eye with it. Seeking permission 
    has been ordained because of the gaze.” 

    Al-Nawawi said: “A stick [midra] with which he was scratching 
    his head”: a midra is a piece of iron that is used to tidy the hair of the 
    head. And it was said that it is like a comb. 

    “Permission has been ordained because of the gaze” – what 
    this means is that seeking permission is prescribed and enjoined in 
    sharee’ah, and it has been ordained lest the gaze fall upon something 
    haraam. So it is not permissible for anyone to look through a door or 
    anything else through which his gaze may fall upon a non-mahram women. And 
    Allaah knows best. 

    Al-Bukhaari (6242) and Muslim narrated from Anas ibn Maalik 
    that a man peeped into one of the apartments of the Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him), and the Prophet  (peace and blessings 
    of Allaah be upon him) stood up with an arrowhead and it is as if I can see 
    him now, trying to poke him (whilst the man was not aware). 

    This hadeeth indicates that it is permissible to punish the 
    one who looks into a house without the permission of the owner by throwing 
    something at him, even if it puts out his eye.  

    Muslim (2158) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever looks into a 
    house without the people’s permission, it is permissible for them to put out 
    his eye.” 

    Al-Nawawi said: 

    With regard to the words of the Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him):  “Whoever looks into a house without the 
    people’s permission, it is permissible for them to put out his eye,” the 
    scholars said that this is to be understood as referring to a case where 
    someone  looks into a man’s house and he throws a stone at him and it puts 
    out his eye. Is it permissible to throw something without warning him? There 
    are two points of view among our companions, the more correct of which is 
    that it is permissible, because of the apparent meaning of this hadeeth. And 
    Allaah knows best. 

    8 – This action causes corruption in society and spreads 
    immorality and evil. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 
“Verily, those who like 
    that (the crime of) illegal sexual intercourse should be propagated among 
    those who believe, they will have a painful torment in this world and in the 
    Hereafter. And Allaah knows and you know not”

    [al-Noor 24:19]

    If this stern warning is addressed to one who likes in his 
    heart that immorality should spread and prevail, then how about one who 
    actually causes it to spread? Undoubtedly his punishment will be more severe 
    and his sin will be greater. 

    9 – Keeping the picture is persisting in sin and 
    transgressing the sacred limits set by Allaah, and it keeps the one who does 
    it further away from repentance. Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with 
    him) said: “There is no minor sin if one persists in it (i.e., it becomes a 
    major sin).” 

    10 – Transmitting the picture further compounds the sin of 
    the one who committed it, and takes him further away from the mercy and 
    forgiveness of Allaah. The Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be 
    upon him) said: “All of my ummah will be forgiven except those who commit 
    sin openly. It is part of committing sin openly if a man does something at 
    night and Allaah conceals him, but in the morning he says, ‘O So and so, I 
    did such and such last night.’ His Lord had concealed him all night long, 
    but in the morning he disclosed what Allaah had concealed.” Agreed upon. 

    We ask Allaah to set the affairs of the Muslims straight.