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Thread: Questions from a Muslim artist.
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noraina

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Assalamu Alaykum,

I have always, if I don't say so myself (hehe), been a good artist. I originally drew portraits and could draw almost life-like representations of many people. Around three years ago (when I was 14) I returned to Islam alhamdulillah and I felt so uncomfortable with drawing portraits I left it, I now paint landscapes or calligraphy. I am proud of my decision and I have not drawn so much as an eye for the last few years however:

Most of my family and friends are telling me to come back to it, I am getting so tired of having to explain myself all the time, especially when they give me evidence saying it is not haraam.

I sometimes feel regret - is this a sign of weak iman? Sometimes I want to start drawing portraits again.

Also, all of the portraits I have drawn before are stored in a folder. Should I throw them away?
 
I don't know what to say without being a hypocrite.

Try to break things down into compartments of the deen. If we reflect back in a day, all the available hours, minutes, even seconds, and how much of that is in rememberance of Allah?

I draw, paint, clay modeling, play guitar (rock and blues) rythm and lead. Can sing not very high pitch... I play most sport but age catches up.. so, I can have plenty of distractions, the point is, practicing and putting in the hours without remembrance of Him, is dot..dot..dot.. (fill in the blanks).

It's the hours we will never get back. The very same hours we will regret not better put to use when we have crossed the finish line of life.


eace:
 
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Based on the fatwaa's I have seen on Islamqa. Drawing the eye itself is not haram because it is not an animate being; something that cannot be counted as living therefore, it is a inanimate object and it cannot be counted as an image.

It is drawing a creation that resembles the creation of Allah itself is haram which would make you an image maker.

" It seems that images which do not have complete features, which do not have a nose or eyes, are not included under the heading of haraam images, and the ones who make them are not included in this warning, because they cannot truly be said to be images, and these images do not imply imitating the creation of Allaah. "

"Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: With regard to dolls made of cloth, where the image does not have clear features, even though it has limbs, a head and neck, but there are no eyes or nose, there is nothing wrong with that, because this is not imitating the creation of Allaah. End quote. "

"Everyone who makes something that imitates the creation of Allaah is included in this hadeeth"

Here is the key one - "But as I said, if the image is not clear and if it does not have eyes or a nose or mouth or fingers, then it is not a complete image, and is not imitating the creation of Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted. End quote. "
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The image is the head; if the head is cut off, there is no image.” Narrated by al-Ismaa’eeli in his Mu’jam from the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah no. 1921 and in Saheeh al-Jaami’ no. 3864.


2 – The majority of fuqaha’ are of the view that if something is cut off from an image without which it could no longer live, then it is not a haraam image. For a detailed discussion of this issue and the views of other madhhabs, see Ahkaam al-Tasweer fi’l-Fiqh al-Islami, pp. 224-240. "


https://islamqa.info/en/39806
https://islamqa.info/en/72915
https://islamqa.info/en/102277
https://islamqa.info/en/110504
https://islamqa.info/en/110504
https://islamqa.info/en/129446


This is the most puzzling one because if I draw a cartoon head but if the head is cut off than it is halal? I too need to understand this ruling - "
 
Drawing an eye is not an animate being, a living thing. If you cut something off (according to Islamqa) which it cannot be living than it is not an image. You can always try this but imagine it with facial features

http://postimg.org/image/b65ooyct1/
 
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Assalamu Alaykum,

Brother Greenhill, jazakAllah for the honest answer, it made me think - it is certainly something every believer must reflect upon everyday, we were created to worship Allah, so how much of our life do we actually dedicate to that purpose?

Kiro -that is an interesting point which I'll look into, jazakAllah for the explanation and the links, it has certainly been a very contested topic in Islamic fiqh and will no doubt continue to be so. I think I'll just be on the safe side and stick to landscapes and calligraphy - much more rewarding Alhamdulillah.
 
noraina said:
Assalamu Alaykum,

Brother Greenhill, jazakAllah for the honest answer, it made me think - it is certainly something every believer must reflect upon everyday, we were created to worship Allah, so how much of our life do we actually dedicate to that purpose?

Kiro -that is an interesting point which I'll look into, jazakAllah for the explanation and the links, it has certainly been a very contested topic in Islamic fiqh and will no doubt continue to be so. I think I'll just be on the safe side and stick to landscapes and calligraphy - much more rewarding Alhamdulillah.
Click to expand...

yes please look more into the fatwaa and may God guide us all