Ruling on wearing necklaces that contain animal images

1-9-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the ruling on the inscriptions of animals on necklaces worn by women?

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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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Drawing living beings on tableaus, walls, clothes, chains and so on is forbidden according to the majority of the scholars.

It is prohibited to buy and sell gold jewelry that contains images of living beings, not because they are made of gold, but because of the illustration attached to it. This is based on the general rule on the prohibition of selling prohibited things.

Al-Qalyoobi, a Shaafi‘i scholar said: "It is not permissible to sell images and crucifixes, whether they are made of gold, silver or sweets."

Accordingly, if the chains that a woman wears have an image of a living being, then she has to remove it, and it is prohibited for her to wear them. It is permissible for her to have them melted and processed in a lawful form. It is also permissible to sell them on the condition of changing their form or effacing them so that they can no longer be named an image.

Allaah Knows best.