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What is the ruling on money earned from a printing contract for a book that contains prohibited images, and the contract was made with a usurious bank? Is it permissible to take operating expenses from it, and what should be done with the surplus?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If the phrase "pictures are forbidden" refers to photography, then this issue has been previously discussed. However, drawing animate beings by hand is forbidden.

If the book is an advertisement for an interest-based bank, then printing it is forbidden because it assists in usury (riba), and it is not permissible to take payment for it. All income from it must be given in charity for good causes.

However, if the content of the book is permissible and does not assist the bank in its forbidden activity or advertise for it, then what purifies it from the price of printing the forbidden pictures must be given out.

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

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