Some have issued a ruling that it is permissible to make a three-dimensional image of an animal by removing a part of its body; what is your opinion?

The questioner : We have artisans in Sudan who make animals out of wood, ebony, and ivory. I remember a scholar came here from Egypt, and they asked him about this issue. He said: "Mutilate the animal in its testicles, disfigure it, meaning, cut a part off it, and that is why we permitted it..."?

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar! You have reminded me of something that has grieved my heart since I read it. There are among the scholars of the Muslims those who issue such rulings. I read a ruling in the magazine *Nur al-Islam*.

The questioner : Al-Azhar.

The Shaykh : It was a magazine published by Al-Azhar; later it became known as the *Al-Azhar* magazine. A question regarding image-making was directed to the Sheikhs of Al-Azhar at that time. After they mentioned the disagreement and that scholars differed on image-making—some saying that all images are forbidden, whether three-dimensional or not, and others saying that only the three-dimensional is forbidden, which is the position of Imam Malik—one of the misfortfalls of the Muslims today with some of their scholars is that these scholars take the dispensations (rukhas), and some boast over those who hold fast to the Sunnah, saying: "We do not want to be strict with people; we want to make things easy. The religion is easy. If there are two opinions, one permitting and one forbidding, make it easy and do not make it difficult. We say to them: This is permissible." This is what we have heard and read. And of that is the following example:
This writer from Al-Azhar, after presenting the disagreement with honesty, without doubt, said: "To avoid falling into contradiction, even with the position of Malik which confines the prohibition to three-dimensional idols, he said: So the artist—and this scholar became an artist—he guides him to the path of art. He said: 'So the artist may come to the idol and dig a hole from the top of its head so that it reaches its brain; because if it were like this, it would mean nothing, yes, but there is no doubt that this is a defect from the artistic perspective.' He said: 'So he takes what is called today a wig (the peruke) and places it on the head of the statue, so it appears—meaning—a verse in what? In beauty and art.'"
Thus—regrettably—they teach the tricks of the Jews! The story of the Sabbath is mentioned in the Noble Qur'an, but some people may not know the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): . The fats were forbidden to them, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: . Among these good things were the fats. So they endured for a period of time, then Satan came to them and said: "Take these fats, throw them into the pots, and melt them with water from the bottom so they take another form, and this will become something other than the forbidden fat." And they did so and sold them, thinking what? That they had exited the prohibition. And the fat remained fat; all that happened was that the shape changed, while the reality, the substance from a chemical perspective, remained the same. This is of the play of what? Satan with the Jews. And among us are those who do that today. And therefore the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) warned us not to follow any of their ways when he said in the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri in *Sahih al-Bukhari*: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . They said: "O Messenger of Allah, the Jews and the Christians?" He said: .
Who were the ones controlling the world of ignorance with their culture at that time, other than the Jews and the Christians? . And this is what we actually observe. I do not mean imitating the disbelievers and following them; I mean what is found in the depths of some books of jurisprudence regarding the permissibility of what Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has forbidden through the slightest of tricks.
I read a thesis printed in Syria titled "The Trick to Escape from Riba (usury or interest)." They draw near to Allah with that, not just a trick, but they draw near to Allah with that. How is this? He said: "You make a vow to Allah, saying: 'It is obligatory upon me to give every person who lends me ten out of a hundred. Every person who lends me a loan, it is obligatory upon me to give him, for the face of Allah, ten out of a hundred.' So if you borrow, for example, a hundred as a loan, you give ten out of the hundred, and this becomes fulfillment of the vow, not riba! Fulfillment of the vow." This is printed in this recent period, and it has examples. Do not say: "This is because of the corruption of society and the misguidance of some sheikhs." No, rather, this has examples; because when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , he did not mean the twentieth century.

Another questioner: Correct.

The Shaykh : This happened long before that. Who among you does not know that there are scholars, even today, and it is taught at Al-Azhar Sharif and elsewhere that *nikah al-tahil* (marriage for the purpose of enabling remarriage) is permissible and practiced?

Another questioner : We have not heard that.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : We have not read that.

The Shaykh : How, O Shaykh? It exists in the Hanafi school, it exists in the Shafi'i school. And some of the sheikhs among us in Damascus, Syria, said to one of them: "If you hear that a man has divorced his wife with three divorces and she has no return to him except after marrying another husband, I am ready." Truly, this is not a joke, regrettably! Rather, one of them in the Great Mosque, the Umayyad Mosque, said: "I draw near to Allah by performing *tahil* (enabling remarriage) for this woman to her husband; regrettably!"