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What is the ruling on drawing Allah's creations, such as humans, trees, seas, and animals in general, in Islam? And what is the wisdom if it is prohibited? And is it permissible to imply the presence of people, such as by drawing shadows or parts of the body?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Scholars have agreed on the prohibition of drawing animate beings if the depiction is three-dimensional. The majority of them also prohibited it if it is a hand-drawn image, due to the generality of the hadiths, such as 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,’" and his saying: "Every maker of images will be in the Hellfire." It is permissible to draw inanimate objects such as trees and stones. Among the wisdoms behind the prohibition are imitating Allah’s creation and the potential for it to be a means to polytheism (shirk) and a reason for angels not entering the house.

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

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