A question from a non Muslim

[Poita]

Hi.
I'm not a Muslim but I have a question about image related etiquette of the Islamic faith.

If an artist paints a picture that represents Islam and it has a Mosque and also some text from the Koran as a center piece then is it correct that he sign his own name at the bottom of the picture as artists generally do on their paintings or should he refrain from writing his own name on the painting due to it being a painting that represents Islam and the Koran? Also, could you please advise on the varying levels of seriousness i.e. it's very bad, a little bit bad, it's a gray area, it's permitted but not in good taste or totally ok.

As a little back ground to my question. I'm a member of the Unification Church and our philosophy is to embrace all faiths as we believe all the great religions are guided and used by God to raise his children up. We have just opened a HQ Temple in Seoul, S.Korea where our faith originates. In the Temple we have a kind of small chapel room where we have pictures that represent the major religions of the world. Islam is prominent there and there is to be a picture as I described to honor the Islamic faith. So I would like to know if the painting should have the artists traditional signature on the same canvas that text from the Koran is displayed.

Thank you for any advice you can give and please forgive my lack of sufficient knowledge of the Islamic faith.

Poita.

 

[islamirama]

Hello Poita,

An artist can write their names on their work to show ownership. However it would be advised to not include any animate beings in it as Islam doesn't allow painting of animate beings. It would be also wise not to include the text from the Quran on there because there is a chance of it being mishandled/disposed off in the future in a manner that could be unislamic. Islam provides guidelines of proper handling and disposing of anything that has the arabic names of God or text from the Quran written on it.

A good idea and way to represent would be to have one of the posters www.discoverislam.com has. You can purchase one from their site. They can be good displays as well as educational material.

Not sure how others missed this post for a week but welcome to the board and feel free to ask anything else.

Regards

 

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/Peace

I have a question about image related etiquette of the Islamic faith.

thanks for asking advices from Muslims . Pl. don't draw any human images as it may create unnecessary debate .

Fatwa/ religious verdict: Drawing face of human beings


....A picture is of two kinds:1- The picture which is made by hand, having a shadow or not, is Haram, according to the most sound opinion.


2- As for the photography by camera, Muslim scholars have different opinions over it. Some scholars, according to a generalization mentioned in many Hadith, believe that all kinds of photography are prohibited. Some of them believe that photography is nothing but catching the shadow of a person, not emulating Almighty Allah. Thereupon, it is not Haram.


But we would like to tell you that avoiding doubtful things is always preferable in Islam unless there is real necessity for acting otherwise.

http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/fatwa/ShowFatwa.php?lang=E&Id=81509&Option=FatwaId