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Fatwa CenterRuling on Coloring Figurines
Question
Assalamu Alaikum,This is my first time submitting a question. I am a stay-at-home mom starting a small business making plaster figurines for children to paint. Some molds are inanimate objects like cars and flowers, but I also have molds of horses and dinosaurs. I intend the animal-shaped figurines only for children, not adults. Only inanimate objects are intended for adults.Is it permissible to make and sell the animal-shaped figurines?Jazakum Allahu Khairan
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.
There is no harm in making and selling figurines shaped like animals for children to color.
The evidence for this is the hadith reported by Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim from Aa'isha 
who said: “I used to play with dolls in the presence of the Prophet and I had friends who would play with me. Whenever the Messenger of Allah entered, they would hide from him, but he would send them to me so that they could play with me.”
ʿIyad 
said in Ikmal Al-Muʿlim: “This hadith proves the permissibility of playing with dolls and that they are excluded from the general prohibition regarding images because of this hadith. The scholars also permitted selling and purchasing them.” [End quote.]
It is also stated in the Al-Mawsu‘ah Al-Fiqhiyyah Al-Kuwaitiyyah: “Most scholars excluded the making of dolls from the prohibition of image-making and sculpting.”
It further states: “The scholars mentioned regarding children’s toys that the reason for excluding them from the general prohibition is that they train young girls in caring for children, as stated by the majority of jurists, or that they provide training, companionship, and joy for children for the benefit of healthy development, as stated by Al-Hulaymi. Making images was permitted for this benefit despite the presence of the original reason for prohibition, namely that they represent living beings. Likewise, making images for educational and training purposes falls under this exception.” [End quote.]
Allah Knows best
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