Ruling on Carrying Items Containing Images
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What is the ruling on carrying items that contain images?
If one carries them out of dire necessity or pressing need, there is nothing wrong with it, such as with currency.
Currency nowadays contains images of kings, but did we choose that?Answer: No.
But we are compelled to do this; what can we do about our currency? A person must carry it. People in the past used to carry currency containing images of non-Muslims, and those were also three-dimensional images. They used to carry the French riyal, which had an image of the King of Sweden or others on it, and it was a three-dimensional image that you could touch with your hand, with an image of a bird on the back. They also carried the foreign pound, which had an image of George, the King of the English, on it, and on the other side a horse with a rider on it, and it could be touched. But what can people do? The pressing need is like when a person carries his personal identification card in order to prove his identity if the need arises. So, there is nothing wrong with that, if Allah wills.
As for carrying an image with the specific intention of keeping it as a memento, such as a picture of a friend or the like, that is not permissible. I say "with the specific intention" to be cautious regarding what is found in some newspapers, which are images that are not intended—meaning the one who reads the newspaper did not intend the image and does not want it. So, there is nothing wrong with carrying them because they are not intended.But if someone were to say: If I want to cut out the image and put it—meaning the image—in my pocket, that is not permissible; because in that case, it is intended.
If one carries them out of dire necessity or pressing need, there is nothing wrong with it, such as with currency.
Currency nowadays contains images of kings, but did we choose that?Answer: No.
But we are compelled to do this; what can we do about our currency? A person must carry it. People in the past used to carry currency containing images of non-Muslims, and those were also three-dimensional images. They used to carry the French riyal, which had an image of the King of Sweden or others on it, and it was a three-dimensional image that you could touch with your hand, with an image of a bird on the back. They also carried the foreign pound, which had an image of George, the King of the English, on it, and on the other side a horse with a rider on it, and it could be touched. But what can people do? The pressing need is like when a person carries his personal identification card in order to prove his identity if the need arises. So, there is nothing wrong with that, if Allah wills.
As for carrying an image with the specific intention of keeping it as a memento, such as a picture of a friend or the like, that is not permissible. I say "with the specific intention" to be cautious regarding what is found in some newspapers, which are images that are not intended—meaning the one who reads the newspaper did not intend the image and does not want it. So, there is nothing wrong with carrying them because they are not intended.But if someone were to say: If I want to cut out the image and put it—meaning the image—in my pocket, that is not permissible; because in that case, it is intended.