regarding the ruling on image-making? And are children taught image-making in schools?

The questioner : O Shaykh, what is the ruling on drawing and hanging pictures in the field of education? I am a teacher in the field of kindergartens, so I am forced to draw?

The Shaykh : I tell you, may Allah assist you in what you are going through, because you are in an age where calamity has spread and become widespread, and education in the schools of Muslims has become like education in the schools of disbelievers. We have become not following the Shari'ah of Allah, influenced by the methods of the disbelievers in their teachings. I do not think the matter requires much speech and explanation, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade image-making as an act, just as he forbade possessing it. He said: , and he said: , and he said: . And Jibril (peace be upon him) refused to enter upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), although he had a prior appointment with him, when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) went out to receive Jibril outside the room, and he was refusing to enter. He said to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): . So he (peace and blessings be upon him) hastened to carry out the command of Jibril. He looked in the house and found a puppy that al-Hasan or al-Husayn had brought in. He ordered it to be taken out and its place sprinkled with water. Then he found there a curtain with statues, meaning images of men, so it was altered by cutting it until it became like a tree with branches. At that time, Jibril (peace be upon him) entered. These are some of the authentic hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the prohibition of images, both in making them and possessing them. Our time has reached the era in which we were afflicted by the intellectual colonization of the West, after they had colonized our lands. The colonizer left our lands, but he left behind his bad effects, his customs, his habits, his morals, and other things, including these methods in teaching children. We believe that the original ruling on image-making is what we mentioned earlier: prohibition. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted Lady A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) the toy that she used to play with in her house. This is known among the scholars as "girls' play." It was part of his (peace and blessings be upon him) good manners and excellent character that he would send girls from her neighbors to his wife A'ishah so that A'ishah could have fun with them. He saw in her house the girls' toys, and in one of these toys was an image of a horse with wings. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) teased her, saying to her: ? She said: "Does it not reach you, O Messenger of Allah, that the horses of Sulayman (peace be upon him) had wings?" So he (peace and blessings be upon him) laughed and approved of that. From this story, we benefit by excluding some images from the prohibition of making and possessing them that we mentioned earlier. But the matter must be stopped at a limit.
That is because it is known among the scholars that dire necessities permit what is forbidden. So what is originally forbidden in the Shari'ah is not permissible to make lawful or to take as a right on the slightest occasion. Now we enter into the core of the answer to the question: Teaching children with pictures. This education has become, as we teach them alif, ba, ta, tha, which is necessary for knowledge. But where is the necessity to draw for him, for example, a gazelle or a donkey or a bear or a lion, or something similar? He says: This is for the development of the child's mind. This development comes with him for the future life. So it is not necessary for us, if we are male or female teachers, to draw these pictures for them so that they understand that this is a donkey and not a male goat.

The questioner : How does he know, O Shaykh? It is not necessary for me to bring him a picture, meaning, in order to clarify to the boy, I bring them a picture so that he can see it?

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. Pay attention to what I am saying: the forbidden does not become permissible except out of dire necessity. Where is the dire necessity? Let us understand the child the difference between the goat and the donkey? This is from the extra knowledge, it is not obligatory. I am telling you, for example: photographing thieves in order to facilitate the path to putting an end to their thievery, photographing the body to assist the doctor in knowing and being able to identify the ailment or disease in a part of the body, this is a necessary matter. So everything is measured by what is appropriate for it. Now we say: photographing this picture for the child, for this student, this is not a necessary matter, and it is not a matter such that if the child does not know it in his childhood, when he reaches the age of accountability and the age of men, he will be dull, he will be a fool. We all grew up without this means, and here we are, just like others who live with these means. The point is that it must be firmly established in our minds that what is forbidden by the Shari'ah is not permissible to make lawful for the slightest of reasons. Today, for example, we are afflicted, because of heedlessness of this rule, that what is forbidden is not permissible to make lawful for the most trivial of reasons. Today, for example, we are afflicted by the fact that the fashion of the age is that the pregnant woman should give birth in the hospital. Previously, the woman would give birth in her house; if her delivery was difficult, the doctor or the female doctor, if one was available, would be brought to her. Now, whether the pregnancy is normal or not, we must take her to the hospital and deliver her there, where her 'awrah (parts of the body that must be covered) is exposed to those who are permitted to see it and those who are not. This is an expansion in making lawful what Allah has forbidden. Because regarding the exposure of the 'awrah, before that, the scholars say there are two rules, and it is not permissible to take one of them alone without the other: dire necessities make the prohibited permissible, this is the first rule, and the second rule is: dire necessity is measured by its extent. If we truly believe that image-making is forbidden and that it is among the most severe of prohibitions, as came in the authentic hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he was traveling and came, wanting to enter upon 'Aishah, found a curtain in her house, so he refrained from entering. He said: She said: I bought it for you. So he tore it (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: Have we not been satisfied with this severe warning from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), or has image-making become for us like ordinary writing, completely? We must be vigilant and not be heedless of the rulings of the Shari'ah of the Master of the Messengers. Image-making is among the major sins. What is such in its prohibition is not permissible to make lawful for a very simple reason, which is that we are teaching the child something that is not necessary for him to understand. I am closer, but this example in the picture, there are animals whose eating is forbidden, others whose eating is permissible. Men may not know some of the animals whose eating is forbidden. So if we photograph for these men the forbidden animal so that they know the forbidden, this is an example of what we can say is permissible because it contains assistance in knowing a Shari'ah ruling, which is the halal and the haram. But as for Allah, the small children... they want for their children... to educate them and broaden their horizons with this picture. The matter has become today such that most Muslim houses, when one enters them, one does not distinguish between them and the house of the disbeliever. I have become, for example, entering my daughter's house, my son-in-law's house, and I find here a picture and here an idol and here an idol. The houses of the Muslims have become like the houses of the disbelievers. Why? Because we have expanded in permitting the forbidden image-making, which is forbidden with the most severe prohibition, for the most trivial of reasons. And therefore, we must preserve these two rules: dire necessities make the prohibited permissible, but not absolutely like this. Some people say: I swear by Allah, I am compelled to deposit my money in the bank. Where is the dire necessity? I swear by Allah, I fear that the thieves will raid my house. Glory be to Allah, "dire necessities make the prohibited permissible" means that the person has fallen into dire necessity, so he wants to get out of it. They, before they fall into dire necessity, make the forbidden permissible. He says: I fear that the thieves will raid my house, as if he is photographing people and putting a flag on the roof of the house: here is the treasure, here is the money. No, you take the means that Allah has permitted for you, then rely upon the Lord of Lords. My purpose from this is that the Muslims do not hold fast to the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). They use their desires. "Dire necessities make the prohibited permissible," yes, but "dire necessity is measured by its extent." And when is it a dire necessity? When it occurs, like a man in the desert, for example, whose water runs out, so he finds nothing to drink but impure water; that is from dire necessity. But one who provisions himself with the forbidden from here so that he does not fall into thirst or dire necessity in the desert, this is not permissible Islamically. The matter requires knowledge and requires fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). When the teacher or the female teacher needs to make the child understand something necessary, not something optional, at that time there is no harm in bringing it close to him with a picture, then it is disposed of and the matter is ended.

The questioner : I can show him this, but it is forbidden. I show him the picture of the offices and then I take it from him.

The Shaykh : We benefit from it, but where did this picture come from? Who photographed it?

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : That is not permissible.

The questioner : ... we assist him with these things.

The Shaykh : My previous speech is the answer to your speech. You want to teach the blind person reading and writing, it is not necessary to teach him what is the difference between the goat and, for example, other things.

The questioner : The shape of things.

The Shaykh : Is this necessary, is it obligatory upon him? It is not obligatory upon him. That means the forbidden is not made permissible except in exchange for the obligatory. That is, the man or the person when he is in the desert and is exposed to death, this is destruction. And Allah says: This is forbidden, so he is now between two dire necessities: between eating a few bites, or drinking sips of water in order to save himself from death. So it is not permissible for him, and this is from the subtleties of the matters: if he comes and finds pork meat, for example, or carrion, it is not permissible for him to sit and eat and roast from this meat as if he is eating the halal lamb until he is full. No, rather he eats a few bites that save him from destruction. This is the meaning of the scholars' saying: "dire necessity is measured by its extent." Where did they take this from? Allah the Exalted said: meaning except the amount that you are compelled to, and it is permissible to eat it even if its origin is forbidden, to the extent. Now, for example, the blind person, you teach him reading and writing, and it is not necessary that we make him understand, as we said: the difference between the bear and the gazelle and the like. These are matters from the extra knowledge. And what must we teach people by the forbidden means that is not obligatory? This is the summary of the speech.

The questioner : That means dire necessity is not pressing need. I heard that dire necessity is that which leads to harm, but pressing need is that which we need. And we heard that pictures are permissible in passports and the like, in explaining identity. This is considered a pressing need and not a dire necessity.

The Shaykh : I am saying: this is permissible, but this is not like teaching children.

The questioner : I am only asking about this matter.

The Shaykh : No, your question, we say in it: we say: the person cannot now perform Hajj (the major pilgrimage) except while he has an identity and a passport.

The questioner : Yes, but I mean that this is a pressing need and not a dire necessity, meaning that I need to travel, but this is not necessary because it did not lead to death if I did not do this act.

The Shaykh : Correct, this is so, but were we not in the midst of this?

The questioner : No, I am only speaking.

The Shaykh : I answered you, this is permissible.