What is the ruling on placing frozen animals in museums?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Another question: What is the ruling on animals that are placed in museums?
The Shaykh : It seems the question means: What is the ruling on placing them there?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Answer: As for placing these animals, which are creatures of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), in museums in the nature in which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created them, we see no harm in that. However, there is a matter regarding the method of their preservation. What shall we call it? The method of preserving them. I had heard in Sham, while I was researching this topic, from some of them that they say: Any animal from these animals that is preserved and frozen to be displayed like this before people can only be frozen by injecting it with a specific substance. This substance spreads through the animal's body, and death gradually seeps into it, so it dies with its nerves frozen; it remains as if it were alive. If this is the method, then in my opinion, it is torturing the animal and mutilating it, and that is what the Lawgiver has forbidden. Therefore, from this perspective, it is not permissible to engage in this act because of the torture involved, and consequently, it is not permissible to display them, because that is assisting in their preservation, which is forbidden due to the torture involved. If there is another method for this process, it should be looked into, and I have not heard of another method. Therefore, we do not see this freezing as permissible because of the torture involved.
This is what I have.
The questioner : And its status in the house...
The Shaykh : That is it.
The questioner : ...if it is.
The Shaykh : It has no connection to the angels or the like.
Another questioner : ...images.
...
The Shaykh : It seems the question means: What is the ruling on placing them there?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Answer: As for placing these animals, which are creatures of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), in museums in the nature in which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created them, we see no harm in that. However, there is a matter regarding the method of their preservation. What shall we call it? The method of preserving them. I had heard in Sham, while I was researching this topic, from some of them that they say: Any animal from these animals that is preserved and frozen to be displayed like this before people can only be frozen by injecting it with a specific substance. This substance spreads through the animal's body, and death gradually seeps into it, so it dies with its nerves frozen; it remains as if it were alive. If this is the method, then in my opinion, it is torturing the animal and mutilating it, and that is what the Lawgiver has forbidden. Therefore, from this perspective, it is not permissible to engage in this act because of the torture involved, and consequently, it is not permissible to display them, because that is assisting in their preservation, which is forbidden due to the torture involved. If there is another method for this process, it should be looked into, and I have not heard of another method. Therefore, we do not see this freezing as permissible because of the torture involved.
This is what I have.
The questioner : And its status in the house...
The Shaykh : That is it.
The questioner : ...if it is.
The Shaykh : It has no connection to the angels or the like.
Another questioner : ...images.
...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.