2 Islamic articles on: Islam and statues

Table of contents for the topic Islam and statues
  1. Can Muslims pray in a place that has statues and/or paintings?
  2. Is it haram to hang pictures in a room?

IslamQA: Can Muslims pray in a place that has statues and/or paintings?

salamu alaykom, at work, there are few places for me to pray. I noticed after praying in a back room that there are mask head sculptures hanging up on the wall. do I have to repeat my prayers bc of this?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

The Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) performed the prayer in the palace of the Persian emperor which was full of statues and paintings, so it should not be an issue.  Saʿd bin Abī Waqqāṣ even turned the hall into a prayer hall while leaving the statues and paintings intact. So it should not be an issue to pray in a place where there are statues and/or paintings.

And according to a fatwa by the Qatari Fatwa Authority, while praying besides statues is not recommended, it is not forbidden and does not nullify the prayer (source – Arabic PDF).

For more please see:

A Traditionalist Critique of the Islamic Prohibition on Taṣwīr (Making Drawings and Statues of Humans and Animals)

IslamQA: Is it haram to hang pictures in a room?

Is it haram to hang pictures up in a room where one doesn’t use the room to pray?

Part 2: is it also haram to have stuffed animals in a room you don’t use to pray in?

The mainstream view is that there is nothing wrong with either of those. I do not see anything wrong with having a teddy bear in the room where you pray (my children have something like 10 stuffed animals in the living room where I pray).

According to a fatwa on IslamOnline (which is overseen by the respected Egyptian scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi):

We’d like first to state that there is nothing wrong in drawing as long as the images do not depict nudity or other indecent representations. Also, the picture or image should not be revered or glorified. The detested pictures and images are only those, which are worshiped and revered.

Within these restrictions drawing humans, animals, natural scenes, etc. is permitted. What is prohibited is making a statue or a sculpture of a living being that has shade (depth or three dimensional).

Another fatwa by Dr. Khalid b. al-Munim al-Rifai mentions that there is nothing wrong with children’s toys regardless of whether the toys depict humans, animals or other things.

Sources:

For more please see these articles website:

A Traditionalist Critique of the Islamic Prohibition on Taṣwīr (Making Drawings and Statues of Humans and Animals)

Is it permissible to draw and paint in Islam?