What is the ruling on designing electronic games that are devoid of animate beings, music, and unlawful elements? And does this fall under the ruling on imaging mentioned in the noble Hadith: "Every maker of images will be in the Fire; for every image he has made, a soul will be made for it, which will punish him in Hell"?

Designing 3D games that are limited to images of non-living beings is permissible, as long as they are free from other prohibitions such as music. The permissibility of this is indicated by the saying of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both: "If you must make images, then stick to these trees, everything that does not have a soul." Scholars have acted upon this narration, thus permitting the depiction of that which has no soul. Imam Al-Nawawi holds that the ahadith prohibit the depiction of animals, but do not prohibit the making of trees and the like, which have no soul. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar mentioned that the exception for non-living beings came as a concession. Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen clarified that what is prohibited is that which has a soul. It is also permissible to design games containing living beings if their images are incomplete, such as being only of the head and chest, and a group of scholars have permitted this.