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Fatwa CenterAnimated objects for children
Question
Kindly forward your Fatwa on the followings:Can animated bedsheets, soft toys, and posters of cartoon characters etc. be used for decorating children's bedrooms?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
There is no harm in using the pictures of living beings in a way which shows humiliation to them, such as pictures on carpets, pads, pillows, etc. rather than honoring them. This is based on the Hadith in which Aisha (
) said that Allah's Apostle returned from a journey when I had placed a curtain of mine having pictures over (the door of) a chamber of mine. When Allah's Apostle saw it, he tore it and said, "The people who will receive the severest punishment on the Day of Resurrection will be those who try to make the the things that looks like of Allah's creations." So we turned it (i.e., the curtain) into one or two cushions.
Imam Ibn Hajar said: 'the above Hadith is an evidence for the permissibility of using those pictures which do not have a shadow (i.e. printings) and in which the figures are humiliated and disgraced such as using them on cushions, pillow, etc'. Imam Nawawi said: 'this is the opinion of the majority of the Muslim scholars. However, if the pictures (prints) of living beings are worn on clothes, or turban or they are hung on walls they are no longer humiliated. Such pictures are not permissible'.
From the above details one knows that hanging the pictures of living beings on walls is not permissible even if they are cartoon characters since they are no longer humiliated there. Once the Prophet noticed pictures on a curtain and he tore it as stated in the Hadith mentioned above.
Toys and dolls for small children are permissible in Shariah. Read the Fatwa: 83314 for details.
Allah knows best.
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