Wearing shoes with stick figure image of player on them

17-4-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is wearing "Jordans" haram? The shoe has a stick figure of Michael Jordan (who used to be a famous basketball player) on it; it has a head and its legs are spread out; he is dunking and his arms are spread out too, and it has a torso and a chest. It is not a detailed figure; you cannot see the eyes, mouth, nose, or ears. It is a stick figure logo on the shoe with a head. Would it be haram to wear these sneakers?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The presence of such an image does not entail deeming it prohibited to wear the shoes. The majority of the scholars held that it is allowed to use such images on what is treated with disrespect, such as shoes. The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Fiqh reads, "Most scholars held that it is permissible to own and use images if they are disrespected."

Some scholars held that it is not prohibited to use images that do not have clear features. Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said, "If the image is not clear; i.e. it does not have eyes or a nose or mouth or fingers, then it is not a complete image and it is not considered imitating the creation of Allah, The Exalted."

Also, scholars excluded small images from the prohibition in this regard. The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Fiqh reads, "The Hanafi scholars stated that small pictures are not included in the prohibition with regard to owning and using images based on the fact that it is not among the practice of those who worship images to use them in this size."

Allah knows best.