The ruling on keeping taxidermied animals
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on keeping taxidermied animals for decoration or for scientific purposes?
Answer:
It is not permissible to keep corpses because they are ritually impure; dead bodies are ritually impure, so is it not permissible to keep them? This is a matter of frivolity.
As for the issue of medicine, the embalming of corpses for dissection and medical work, that is a different matter. If there is a need for it, there is no harm, because it has medical benefit and is for study.
If they are not human bodies, but as for human bodies, they have sanctity, so it is not permissible to treat them with contempt. However, if it is the corpse of an animal and there is medical benefit from it, there is no objection. But keeping them for decoration in houses is not permissible, because they are dead bodies, and a dead body is ritually impure. Also, this is a form of extravagance and squandering of wealth, because these are bought with money and they have no benefit and no value.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on keeping taxidermied animals for decoration or for scientific purposes?
Answer:
It is not permissible to keep corpses because they are ritually impure; dead bodies are ritually impure, so is it not permissible to keep them? This is a matter of frivolity.
As for the issue of medicine, the embalming of corpses for dissection and medical work, that is a different matter. If there is a need for it, there is no harm, because it has medical benefit and is for study.
If they are not human bodies, but as for human bodies, they have sanctity, so it is not permissible to treat them with contempt. However, if it is the corpse of an animal and there is medical benefit from it, there is no objection. But keeping them for decoration in houses is not permissible, because they are dead bodies, and a dead body is ritually impure. Also, this is a form of extravagance and squandering of wealth, because these are bought with money and they have no benefit and no value.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، بداية من باب الربا — islamhouse.com (48:25)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.