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Fatwa CenterAdding Facial Features to Inanimate Drawings
Question
As-salamu alaykum, I wanted to inquire about the permissibility of adding facial features to inanimate objects, such as drawing dots in the eye sockets of a skeleton or drawing a smile or other faces on a rock or a flower.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
We have already clarified in many previous Fatwas that it is prohibited to make statues and draw images in the form of animate beings, such as humans or animals, even if the being is imaginary and has no real-world counterpart, like a winged horse. However, it is not prohibited to make statues or draw images that are incomplete in a way that life could not exist with them in reality, such as a statue without a head, or with a head but no facial features, such as eyes, mouth, and ears, since life cannot exist in such a form in the real world.
After understanding the aforementioned, you should consider what you add of those features to the mentioned inanimate objects. If adding these features makes the object resemble an animate being and life could realistically exist in that form, then it is prohibited. But if the addition of features does not result in the object taking the form of an animate being, or it does but life could not realistically exist in that form, then it is not prohibited.
In all cases, it is better to avoid such matters altogether, as safety (in one’s religion) is of unrivaled value. The Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, encouraged us to stay away from doubtful matters that may be impermissible, as is mentioned in the Hadith of An-Nu’man ibn Bashir 
who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, say: “The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are matters that are doubtful (not clear); many of the people do not know whether it is lawful or unlawful. So, whoever leaves it to protect his religion and his honour, he will be safe, and whoever falls into something from them, he will eventually fall into the unlawful. Just like if someone grazes (his animals) around a sanctuary, he would soon wind up in it.” [Agreed upon by Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Allah knows best.
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