Abul Fazl qualified picture painting as a magical art. He believed that it had the power to give life to even inanimate things.
Pictures showing the Emperor, the court, and people created constant conflicts between the rulers and the ulamas. These ulamas based their objection on the Koran and Hadith. The ulamas said that making pictures of people is against Islamic law. By making pictures, the artist is questioning the authority of God to create things. They believed that the power of creation belonged entirely to God.