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Little_Lion
03-18-2011, 02:59 AM
I recently came to Islam, and have been an artist and to a lesser degree, a musician my whole life. I know that the Prophet (saw) has delivered to us messages about allowable creativity, but I've gotten so many different interpretations from people, often without any supplied evidence, that it has left me very confused. More than anything I would like to make beautiful things to put in a visual or auditory sense my love of Allah, but sometimes I would also just like to draw for fun. I hope people don't mind some very specific questions in regard to visual arts and the arts in general.

1.) It has been made VERY clear that creating any work of art that is meant to be, or could come to be, worshiped is strictly against Allah, even if it is meant to represent Him or His Prophets (saw). Is it haraam to create art of humans that is not meant to be worshiped? Can you draw portraits of family members, for example? Or if drawing actual people is not allowed, can you draw images of fictional people (for example, to illustrate a story with fictional characters)?

2.) Is it haraam to paint or draw any of Allah's creation? Can you paint animals, or landscapes?

3.) Can you draw or paint fantasy creatures, such as a Pegasus or gryphon, that were not created by Allah? How about fantasy-style creatures based on those that actually exist, such as a cartoon like Bugs Bunny (but obviously behaving well)?

4.) Is all of the above is haraam, is there any allowance if the piece is to show the glory of Allah? For example, if painting a landscape of a city would be haraam, would painting a mosque be okay?

5.) I would love to write and illustrate a book for young non-Muslim children, insha'Allah, to teach some of the hows and whys of Islam in case they have Muslims in their class, but are afraid to ask questions. So that I could avoid any biases of color, I wanted to use anthropomorphized animals as the characters. Would it be haraam to use animal characters as human substitutes in this fashion, showing them reading the Qur'an and praying? Note: this would only be for representations of your average Muslim, NOT for any representations of the Prophet (saw).

6.) I have never heard a female singing a nasheed. Have I just not been exposed to it, or is it haraam?

7.) I've heard many conflicting reports/opinions on the use of musical instruments; some say none can be used at all, some say only hand drums, some say any as long as the music is in praise of Allah, some say music that is not detracting from Allah's grace is okay (for example, instrumental classical music, instrumental movie scores). I know that I'll probably hear a range here as well, but so that I can begin to keep it straight insha'Allah, do certain schools adhere to different ideologies in this, or is it a matter of more personal interpretation?

8.) In ages past, Muslim artists did in fact draw and paint our beloved Prophet (saw) in scenes of battle. I am well aware that graphical representations of blessed Mohammad (saw) are haraam; however, as I am studying Middle Eastern history, should I happen to come upon one of these images in my studies in a textbook or online, is there anything I should do? Du'a for the artist for Allah's forgiveness? Should I do wudu or any other action for having seen something so against our current practices?

Jazak'Allah khayr, thank you all for your thoughtful responses.
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Aprender
03-18-2011, 03:16 AM
Very good questions as some of them have been mine too. I am looking forward to what the posters who are knowledgeable about this have to say.
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Tyrion
03-18-2011, 04:01 AM
I've made a few posts about my position and opinions on music, so I'll just paste that here:

Okay, first off... The vast majority of people on this site consider music to be forbidden, so a lot of your answers will probably be leaning in that direction. I disagree with them, and you should know that there is a difference of opinion on the matter among some scholars. (Although it does seem like the majority of classical scholars hold the position that it is haram/forbidden.)

The Quran itself doesn't mention music, but people have interpreted certain passages as referring to it:

But there are, among men those who purchase idle tales, without knowledge (or meaning), to mislead (men) from the Path of Allah and throw ridicule (on the Path): for such there will be a humiliating Penalty. (31:6)

The mention of "idle tales" has been taken to mean music/musical instruments. (although I've noticed that even those who take this verse as referring to music forget to read the second part of the verse, "to mislead from the path of Allah", which doesn't seem to point to an outright ban...)

Most of the evidence for the prohibition of music (Mainly musical instruments) comes from Ahadith. The one I see used most often is the following:

"From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcohol, and the use of musical instruments as lawful. Allah will destroy them during the night...and will change the rest of them to monkeys and pigs and they will remain so until the Day of Resurrection". (Bukhari)

This seems to implicitly claim that musical instruments are forbidden. It's anything but clear though (in my opinion...) so do some more research on your own, weigh the evidences, and make an informed decision. Just don't expect much variety in the answers you get from this forum...

Also, if anyone tries to explain to you how music is bad for your health, how all of it leads to sin, or how there is scientific evidence that points to it being bad... Ignore them. I'm tired of people trying to justify their belief that music is forbidden with some kind of concrete scientific/common sense arguments that just don't apply to all music. Its totally fine if you believe that it's forbidden, and its admirable that anyone would refrain from anything to please God, but making up these reasons to justify it is silly, and most of them are rubbish. If you believe it's forbidden, then just say you don't listen to music because you believe it's haram in Islam. That's all. No need to make up other reasons to justify that prohibition... ( I hope that made sense... /rant)
As for the issue of drawing and making images of living things... I can only give you an answer based on my opinions and experience... From what I've seen, the only people who hold the opinion that all images/drawings are Haram are the ultra conservatives... (although I don't really like using the term conservative, I hope you get what I mean...) There are a few Ahadith that speak of punishment for image makers, however, I very rarely see context applied to the Hadith (which, in my view, is extremely important), and I've heard many scholarly opinions that don't feel it's appropriate to make such a ruling based on the Hadith. I've also never heard an Imam or lecturer claim the arts were in any way forbidden... I'm sure you can see why, since if images were haram, living in the modern world would be virtually impossible... We'd basically have to live in caves, since pictures of people are everywhere, on tv, on posters, in books, etc... Also, while there are a number of Muslims who hold music haram, I'd have to say from my experience that there are very few Muslims (even amongst the learned) who consider images/art to be forbidden. Classical opinions on this stuff does tend to be on the safe side however, which is understandable...

But yeah, the bottom line about all this is that there does seem to be differences of opinion, so like I said in the post concerning music, ask your local scholars/imams, research, and form your own opinion based on what you find is correct... And also, try not to obsess over this stuff as many of our brothers and sisters here tend to do... They aren't priorities. :p
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Little_Lion
03-19-2011, 03:58 AM
Not to worry, I am not at risk of being obsessed by it! My greater concern is that I love to share with other people, and I would not want to offend my brothers and sisters in Allah's grace . . . at the same time, I am still learning even the basics of some Islamic practices and would really like to know what the consensus is, rather than come to my own conclusions on my own readings on some things.
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Little_Lion
03-24-2011, 03:27 AM
A gentle bump for knowledge, insha'Allah! And if a moderator thinks this would be better in the Arts forum they are welcome to move it. Jazak'Allah khayr!
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