Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
I am Muslim, and an artist. I like to paint figurative works, which have no religious connotations, only social ones, or expressing the state a person is in, e.g., an old man showing his age and his life-experiences on his face. The only thing is I do not paint much for fear of doing something not permissible by Allah. Would I be committing a sin by making figurative art? I might also add that I do not do nudes.
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate May His blessings and peace be on His Beloved Prophet, the best of creation, and his family, companions, and followers
The Beloved Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) sternly forbade painting human or animal forms, saying,
“Among those most sternly punished on the Day of Judgment are picture-makers.” [Related by Bukhari and Muslim; a rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith, without doubt]
He also said (peace and blessings be upon him),
“Angels do not enters rooms that have pictures in them.” [Also related by Bukhari and Muslim; also rigorously authenticated (sahih), without doubt]
There are numerous hadiths to this effect. As a result, Imam Ibn Hajar Haytami counted, “representation of an animate creature upon anything, in a respectful or humiliated deployment, on the ground or elsewhere, even an imagined creaturesuch as a horse with wings,” to be among the major sins (kaba’ir). This is the position of the overwhelming majority of Islamic scholarship. [Ibn Hajar, al-Zawajir `an Iqtiraf al-Kaba’ir, 2.49-51, Dar al-Fikr; Khadimi/Barqawi, al-Bariqa fi Sharh al-Tariqa, 4.74-75, Dar Ihya al-Kutub al-`Arabiyya]
These two answers are important, as they explain key concepts:
Proof and Wisdom behind the Prohibition of Gold
http://www.sunnipath.com/resources/Questions/qa00002041.aspx
Understanding Two Key Concepts
http://www.sunnipath.com/resources/Questions/qa00002830.aspx
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani