Fatwa ID: 05478

Answered by: Alimah Safiyya-Maryam Ahmed

Question:

It is narrated by Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased be with him) that The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or there are pictures.”

My question is we buy all groceries and almost every package comes with a human picture on it and also we have newspapers where we have pictures so how can we handle this situation where it’s not possible to cover every single object.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

Allah Azzawajjal states in the Qur’an, “On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear” [2:286]. This key principle in the Qur’an teaches us about a beautiful principle in the Deen- we are charged to try our best within our capacity, and whatever is beyond our control or causes extreme difficulty to bring dispensation from Allah Al-Rahman.

Therefore, based on this and other principles in Fiqh such as “Difficulty brings about ease”, “When a matter becomes difficult it widens in scope”, and “Extreme necessity makes permissible the unlawful” we say that a person should try their best to avoid images in the home but where it is difficult to avoid such as in groceries etc. we utilise these aforementioned principles to say they would be allowed. A person should still endeavour to discard the packaging with images as soon as possible.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Alimah Safiyya Maryam Ahmed

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

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الضرورات تبيح المحظورات (القواعد الفقهية مع الشرح الموجز, صفحة ٤٠-٤٤)