The Ruling on Taxidermy of Animals and Keeping Them
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Your Eminence! What is the ruling on taxidermied animals, such as those found in schools, and is it permissible to keep them in the home as ornaments and decorations?
As for taxidermied animals, if they are of the kind that is eaten and were slaughtered without having their heads cut off, and then were taxidermied, there is no harm in that and no issue with it. This is because the waste of wealth in this case is a trivial matter, and this wealth that is lost to a person does not cause harm. Perhaps the benefit derived from them leads to this not being considered a waste of wealth. However, if they are from the forbidden things, then if they are taxidermied, they will remain ritually impure, and keeping the ritually impure is not permissible. This is because the ritually impure is required to be removed and abandoned. Furthermore, if one keeps it and touches it while it is wet, it becomes ritually impure, or if one touches it while it is wet, it becomes ritually impure, so there is no benefit from it. But it is not in the form that some people think, where they think that this is like the image of a human being that is depicted, and that is not the case; rather, it is the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
The questioner: And placing it in the home, O Shaykh, for decoration?The Shaykh: As I told you, what is the benefit from it?The questioner: For decoration only.
The Shaykh: For decoration only, from an animal that is eaten or one that is not eaten?The questioner: From both of these.
The Shaykh: The one that is eaten, as I told you, if it was slaughtered and its head was not cut off, and then it was taxidermied, there is no harm; because it is now pure and not ritually impure. But the one that is not eaten is ritually impure, except that the scholars excluded the one that does not live except in water, for its carrion is pure. They also excluded from what lives on land that which does not have flowing blood, saying that its carrion is pure due to evidence that has come regarding that.
As for taxidermied animals, if they are of the kind that is eaten and were slaughtered without having their heads cut off, and then were taxidermied, there is no harm in that and no issue with it. This is because the waste of wealth in this case is a trivial matter, and this wealth that is lost to a person does not cause harm. Perhaps the benefit derived from them leads to this not being considered a waste of wealth. However, if they are from the forbidden things, then if they are taxidermied, they will remain ritually impure, and keeping the ritually impure is not permissible. This is because the ritually impure is required to be removed and abandoned. Furthermore, if one keeps it and touches it while it is wet, it becomes ritually impure, or if one touches it while it is wet, it becomes ritually impure, so there is no benefit from it. But it is not in the form that some people think, where they think that this is like the image of a human being that is depicted, and that is not the case; rather, it is the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
The questioner: And placing it in the home, O Shaykh, for decoration?The Shaykh: As I told you, what is the benefit from it?The questioner: For decoration only.
The Shaykh: For decoration only, from an animal that is eaten or one that is not eaten?The questioner: From both of these.
The Shaykh: The one that is eaten, as I told you, if it was slaughtered and its head was not cut off, and then it was taxidermied, there is no harm; because it is now pure and not ritually impure. But the one that is not eaten is ritually impure, except that the scholars excluded the one that does not live except in water, for its carrion is pure. They also excluded from what lives on land that which does not have flowing blood, saying that its carrion is pure due to evidence that has come regarding that.