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Fatwa CenterWants to be an artist against her parents' will
Question
I want to be an artist when I grow up. But my parents want me to become a doctor or nurse. I really want to become an artist. Can I go against their wishes and become an artist? Is it a sin to draw faces and animals?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we thank you for visiting our site and we hope that you will find the Fataawa and beneficial articles that would meet your needs, and we ask Allaah to enable you to do all that which is good.
As regards your question, we advise you to put in priority your father's wish in becoming a doctor over your wish of becoming an artist; this is for many reasons:
1) Putting in priority the will of the parents and fulfilling their requests is among fulfilling the duty of being kind and dutiful to the parents. Being kind and dutiful to the parents is one of the most important acts of worship by which one gets closer to Allaah. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 84942 and 86620.
2) Making portraits and drawing pictures include many prohibitions, and this is discussed in Fataawa 89555 and 90288. In short, making portraits and drawing pictures is rarely free of prohibitions like drawing pictures of living beings.
3) There is no great benefit for the Muslim nation in being an artist, drawing pictures or making portraits, on the contrary, Muslims are in a dire need for a trustworthy female Muslim doctor, especially in women's medicine like obstetrics, gynecology and midwifery and the like. If a Muslim woman studies this kind of medicine with the intention of benefiting the Muslims, then she will be rewarded for her intention Allaah willing. So a Muslim should think of the benefits and interests of all Muslims, and not only think about his own benefits and desires.
To conclude, we advise you to keep away from drawing and making portraits or becoming an artist, and fulfil the will of your parents in studying medicine as there are religious and worldly benefits in it. However, it should be mentioned that a woman going out to study should fulfil the religious requirements, like wearing Hijab, avoiding mixing with men, and so on. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 82431 and 82730 and both are about women studying, and Fatwa 83702 about the characteristics of Hijab.
Allaah Knows best.
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