Drawing Partial Animate Beings

28-3-2023 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamu alaikum I’m a 17 year old who loves to code and sometimes make games. I know the ruling on making cartoon images and I don’t draw full images anymore like I use to and I draw partial animate beings by just doing the head and not drawing anything else. When I code in games i add ready made images which I choose from a variety of sources and I don’t draw them in any way or form. Is it permissible for me to put them in or not if I have a select.ion of choices. Jazakallah khair

---

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 is His slave and Messenger.

If those ready images were also drawn, then there is no difference in ruling between them and what you draw. The images that are lacking part of the body without which life is impossible, then there is no harm on you in drawing them.

However, you should avoid what is fully created. The evidence for that is that the Prophet commanded ‘Aa’ishah to tear up a dress of her that had images on it, so she teared it up and made it two pillows that Prophet sit on.

As for pictures taken with a camera or video, this type of representation is a matter of difference of opinion among contemporary scholars between those who prohibited it, and those who permitted it.

The opinion that we adopt here at Islamweb is the permissibility, as long as it does not display what makes it impermissible, as when the picture shows a woman who is not decently dressed [i.e, without Hijab], or is for the purpose of veneration.

Allah knows best.