What is the ruling on taxidermy and placing animals in houses, whether for the lesson in the greatness of the Creator or for decoration?
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The Shaykh : What is the ruling on taxidermy of animals and birds and placing them in houses, whether for the lesson in the greatness of the Creator or for decoration?
We say: I have no knowledge of the practical method of this taxidermy exactly, but I will say something from which a person can derive an answer. If the taxidermy is performed after the animal has been slaughtered in a natural, comfortable manner, then easing the animal through slaughter is among the commands regarding kindness to animals. So if the taxidermy is done after this, there is nothing wrong with it. However, if the taxidermy—as has been reported to us, and Allah knows best—is performed by injecting the animal while it is still alive with a substance that slowly extracts its soul from its body until it remains standing and rigid as the taxidermist desires, this is undoubtedly torture of the animal and is not permissible. Now, the questioner and whoever hears this should verify this process and apply the ruling based on the previous details: if the taxidermy is after lawful killing and lawful slaughter, it is permissible; otherwise, it is not.
Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Raise your voice.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Other than for eating? Yes.
If the animal is actually one that is eaten, it is not permissible to slaughter it and waste it. There is a hadith, and although the hadith is weak, the meaning it points to aligns with Islamic principles, which is: "He forbade saying 'I wish' and 'I wish,' excessive questioning, and wasting wealth." The hadith I am referring to, and noting its weakness, is the one that includes that if a Muslim man kills a bird and throws it on the ground, it will come on the Day of Resurrection and say: "My Lord, ask this man why he killed me?" So this hadith, although weak, its meaning, as we said earlier, is covered by general texts, including that text which forbids wasting wealth. Therefore, the question you heard reminds us in reality to qualify our previous statement where we detailed that if it is slaughtered and then taxidermied, this is permissible. This permissibility must be qualified by what you just heard in the answer to the reminding question: in reality, if this animal is one that is eaten, and he slaughters it and then does not benefit from it, this is wasting wealth. Slaughtering it to be taxidermied is not justified if it can be taxidermied after slaughter for what? Decoration. This is not a justification. Therefore, the taxidermy mentioned remains permissible if it can be performed after slaughter on an animal in which a person does not enjoy lawful benefit. This is what we have regarding this question.
Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Not permissible to do what?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : It does not appear to us that there is anything preventing that.
The questioner : As long as he does not know how to learn hunting... learning hunting...
The Shaykh : Learning hunting? You mean the purpose, the goal? Yes, but this is not specifically for the animal that is not eaten. Rather, the hadiths that forbid it say explicitly: "He forbade taxidermy of a beast." And of course, this term must not be understood in the sense we were discussing earlier, i.e., taxidermy meaning embalming. It is forbidden. The hadith says: "He forbade taxidermy of a beast." So the meaning of taxidermy here is that the beast is taken while alive, placed in a location as a target, then shot at with arrows or spears. This is forbidden because it is possible to practice on a physical target, as is known in all cities of humanity today.
So the point is: the prohibition of taking an animal as a target and goal was not for the animal whose meat is not eaten, but rather for the animal whose meat is eaten. Therefore, we do not find, regarding the animal whose meat is not eaten, anything preventing its killing and taxidermy, either for beauty in looking at it if it is well-shaped, or for any other lawful purpose that does not contradict the Shari'ah. So we see no obstacle to killing it for this purpose. As for the one whom Allah created to be eaten, and he slaughters it for taxidermy, this is what we see as not permissible.
We say: I have no knowledge of the practical method of this taxidermy exactly, but I will say something from which a person can derive an answer. If the taxidermy is performed after the animal has been slaughtered in a natural, comfortable manner, then easing the animal through slaughter is among the commands regarding kindness to animals. So if the taxidermy is done after this, there is nothing wrong with it. However, if the taxidermy—as has been reported to us, and Allah knows best—is performed by injecting the animal while it is still alive with a substance that slowly extracts its soul from its body until it remains standing and rigid as the taxidermist desires, this is undoubtedly torture of the animal and is not permissible. Now, the questioner and whoever hears this should verify this process and apply the ruling based on the previous details: if the taxidermy is after lawful killing and lawful slaughter, it is permissible; otherwise, it is not.
Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Raise your voice.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Other than for eating? Yes.
If the animal is actually one that is eaten, it is not permissible to slaughter it and waste it. There is a hadith, and although the hadith is weak, the meaning it points to aligns with Islamic principles, which is: "He forbade saying 'I wish' and 'I wish,' excessive questioning, and wasting wealth." The hadith I am referring to, and noting its weakness, is the one that includes that if a Muslim man kills a bird and throws it on the ground, it will come on the Day of Resurrection and say: "My Lord, ask this man why he killed me?" So this hadith, although weak, its meaning, as we said earlier, is covered by general texts, including that text which forbids wasting wealth. Therefore, the question you heard reminds us in reality to qualify our previous statement where we detailed that if it is slaughtered and then taxidermied, this is permissible. This permissibility must be qualified by what you just heard in the answer to the reminding question: in reality, if this animal is one that is eaten, and he slaughters it and then does not benefit from it, this is wasting wealth. Slaughtering it to be taxidermied is not justified if it can be taxidermied after slaughter for what? Decoration. This is not a justification. Therefore, the taxidermy mentioned remains permissible if it can be performed after slaughter on an animal in which a person does not enjoy lawful benefit. This is what we have regarding this question.
Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Not permissible to do what?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : It does not appear to us that there is anything preventing that.
The questioner : As long as he does not know how to learn hunting... learning hunting...
The Shaykh : Learning hunting? You mean the purpose, the goal? Yes, but this is not specifically for the animal that is not eaten. Rather, the hadiths that forbid it say explicitly: "He forbade taxidermy of a beast." And of course, this term must not be understood in the sense we were discussing earlier, i.e., taxidermy meaning embalming. It is forbidden. The hadith says: "He forbade taxidermy of a beast." So the meaning of taxidermy here is that the beast is taken while alive, placed in a location as a target, then shot at with arrows or spears. This is forbidden because it is possible to practice on a physical target, as is known in all cities of humanity today.
So the point is: the prohibition of taking an animal as a target and goal was not for the animal whose meat is not eaten, but rather for the animal whose meat is eaten. Therefore, we do not find, regarding the animal whose meat is not eaten, anything preventing its killing and taxidermy, either for beauty in looking at it if it is well-shaped, or for any other lawful purpose that does not contradict the Shari'ah. So we see no obstacle to killing it for this purpose. As for the one whom Allah created to be eaten, and he slaughters it for taxidermy, this is what we see as not permissible.
Source
www.al-albany.com
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