What is the ruling on keeping books that contain images of humans, animals, or birds, and do we obliterate those images entirely, or only the head, or by drawing a line across the neck, or what do we do?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : What is the ruling on keeping books that contain images of humans, animals, or birds, and do we obliterate those images entirely, or only the head, or by drawing a line across the neck, or what do we do? Knowing that these books are useful and are not among the frivolous books, and likewise regarding some Islamic magazines?
The Shaykh : As for these images mentioned in books and some religious magazines, if a person is able to obliterate them, meaning to obliterate their faces and heads, then that is better, because the image is the head.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The reality of a human being is known by his head; a human being’s eye is known by his head and face. Therefore, it is obligatory to obliterate the head and face, if one is able to do so. But if it is difficult for him, then there is no blame on him, if Allah wills, especially since these images are in closed books and are not published, spread out, or famous. Therefore, we see that there is nothing wrong with it if it is difficult for him to obliterate and remove them.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : As for these images mentioned in books and some religious magazines, if a person is able to obliterate them, meaning to obliterate their faces and heads, then that is better, because the image is the head.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The reality of a human being is known by his head; a human being’s eye is known by his head and face. Therefore, it is obligatory to obliterate the head and face, if one is able to do so. But if it is difficult for him, then there is no blame on him, if Allah wills, especially since these images are in closed books and are not published, spread out, or famous. Therefore, we see that there is nothing wrong with it if it is difficult for him to obliterate and remove them.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.