Some educational institutions erase the eyes, nose, and mouth in images of living beings; does this achieve the correct erasure that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Another question, O Shaykh!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : We have some brothers who have an Islamic school, and this school is a private school, but we noticed some observations when we sent the children to the school: they take images from the schoolbooks of certain pages, and these contain pictures, so they erase the eyes, mouth, and nose, and the picture remains without eyes, nose, or mouth. Does this achieve the correct erasure as it came from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)?
The Shaykh : No, it does not achieve it, and this is compounded ignorance. First, they address this matter or this evil in a way based on their own opinions, and then they turn away from the treatment that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed in such as his saying:, and the story of the curtain or the cloth that prevented Jibril (peace be upon him) from entering, .
So removing the eyes and nose, for example, or the mouth, while the head remains, this is among the tricks that resemble to a great extent the tricks of the Jews who used to circumvent the forbidden things with the slightest of tricks.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : We have some brothers who have an Islamic school, and this school is a private school, but we noticed some observations when we sent the children to the school: they take images from the schoolbooks of certain pages, and these contain pictures, so they erase the eyes, mouth, and nose, and the picture remains without eyes, nose, or mouth. Does this achieve the correct erasure as it came from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)?
The Shaykh : No, it does not achieve it, and this is compounded ignorance. First, they address this matter or this evil in a way based on their own opinions, and then they turn away from the treatment that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed in such as his saying:
The image is the head
الصورةُ الرأسAnd the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded that the image be altered until it becomes like the form of a tree
وأمرَ الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام بأن يغير الصورة حتى تصير كهيأة الشجرةSo removing the eyes and nose, for example, or the mouth, while the head remains, this is among the tricks that resemble to a great extent the tricks of the Jews who used to circumvent the forbidden things with the slightest of tricks.