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Is drawing faces and depicting people and animals forbidden?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Drawing animate beings by hand is forbidden according to the majority of scholars, due to the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "Those who make these images will be punished on the Day of Resurrection; it will be said to them: 'Give life to what you have created.'" An unclear image whose features cannot be distinguished, or one that originally has no features, does not fall under this prohibition. Similarly, removing a part of the image without which life cannot be sustained takes it out of the prohibition, such as drawing only the face, or only the eye, or the body without the head. It is permissible to draw inanimate objects such as trees, the sun, and the moon.

As for photographic imaging of animate beings, there is a difference of opinion among scholars regarding its permissibility, ranging between prohibition and permissibility, whereas photographing inanimate objects is permissible.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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