10-08-2004, 05:52 PM
Asalaamu alikum brothers,
I just want to inform you that in Islam it is forbidden to portray the Prophet )peace be upon him) in any type of pictorial representation. Meaning Photograph, drawing, etc. So you cannot show a picture for your school project.
My little son, who is 11 is insha ALlah doing a report on Omar ibn al-Khattab for school next Thursday. For the project the kids are supposed to dress up as the person they will be speaking on, and give the report as they actually are that person, in other words, pretend to be Omar. In Islam, we cannot do this, so what I did was this:
I spoke with his teacher and pointed out this fact, and stated that there is no problem for my son to be in costume, however he cannot act as if he is Omar ibn al-Khattab, but instead he can give the report from his own point of view. Alhumdulilah she had no problem with it. So you see, if you work with your teachers in a good way, most offen I have found them to be quite accomadating. So the solution is always there.
There is a hadith that tells about on the Day of Judgement the picture maker will be asked to breate life in what he has created, and of course he cannot do this, as the only creator is Allah (swt). Think about the embarrassment this one will feel on that day.
We do not know what the Prohpet looked like, and look at what happened to the representation of Jesus (peace be upon him) we now see blond haired- blue eyed Jesus, African Jesus, among many others, when in fact he was neither of these, and we dont know how he looked exactly.
As I said there is always a way to work around this. Maybe you are familiar with the film titled "THE MESSAGE" It is a film about the life of the Prophet, and in it the Prophet (pbuh) is never shown, and alhumdulilah you still get the idea without confusion. If you have not seen it, I think it would be great for you to look at.
I hope I helped, and maybe another here can shed more light onto this topic.
May Allah bless you and guide us all. Ameen.
Your sister,
~Jennnifer