Is drawing for the purpose of self expression and fun haram?

Question

I'm 14 years old and I truly love drawing and I decided to draw as a way to distract myself from old haram habits and getting rid of them. I also use drawing as a way of expressing my feelings instead of letting them get the best of me.

I found out that drawing is haram but I'm a bit confused because some say that if you draw without the intention of challenging Allah SWT, then it's fine. But some say that it's haram and bring up the hadith where Mohammad PBUH said that those who draw will be punished on the day of judgement and will be asked to bring life to their drawings.Some of them say that drawing individual body parts such as eyes or nose alone without the whole face / drawing a human without facial features is okay. I'm very confused on weather or not what I'm doing is haram. I have no bad intentions when I draw and it's all just for satisfaction and fun.

Drawing is not haram according to multiple Islamic opinions. There are some who consider it haram and some who don't. This particular subject has been discussed multiple times on Islam SE so you should be able to see those opinions. Here's one for example https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/60672/what-happens-if-i-draw-animate-beings-unintentionally-or-not-knowing-in-is-a-sin/76956#76956 — YoMango, Nov 28 '22 at 22:46
If you want to draw, then choose to follow the least strict opinion. — YoMango, Nov 29 '22 at 02:50
No, first of all, "fatwa fishing" is a term used by others to try to shut down people from considering different legitimate and valid opinions within Islamic scholarship. Prophet Muhammad himself always chose the easier choice when possible. It's in the hadiths. https://sunnah.com/muslim:2327d — YoMango, Dec 31 '22 at 00:12

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 30 '22 at 06:28

There are various valid Islamic opinions regarding the drawings of living things. There is no ijma (consensus) among the scholars regarding this topic.

Many different scholars throughout history have debated this topic. It is unanimously agreed that drawings of living things depicting haram, used for haram, and/or promoting haram is haram. But from there, the opinions start to diverge even within madhabs (Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence).

Drawing Living things is permissible (mubah)
- On the condition that the drawing of the living thing isn't depicting haram, used for haram, and isn't promoting haram.
- One famous classical Islamic scholar that believed drawings of living things were mubah was Al-Qasim b. Muhammad, who was one of the seven jurists of Medina and the grandson of the Sahabi Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq.
- Is Drawing Living Creatures Permissible?
- العمل في مجال الرسوم والجرافيك
Drawing living things is dislike/discouraged (makrooh)
- This is the primary stance of the Maliki fiqh, which is one of the four madhabs of Islam (Sunni).
- The Maliki View on Pictures of Humans and Animals
Drawing living things is haram.
- This opinion is often shared more commonly among the other 3 madhabs and those who follow more literalist/textualist ideology such as Athari or Salafi.
- Ruling on Drawing Animate Beings

Is drawing for the purpose of self expression and fun haram?

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