08-26-2006, 09:02 AM
Salam,
I thought more about this.
You said, in relation to drawing, its haram to draw (create) an image that is deemed to have a soul. How do you define what a soul in this respect...
Drawing a self portrait obviously falls into that category, because you know you have a soul. And so does drawing someone that you know exists e.g. tracing a photograph, or sketching a person infront of you - that is haram, because you are immitating creation as they have a soul.
So what about these smileys? ^_^ :wacko: :wub: They imply life, imply emotional characteristics and a human! Yet they are clearly not human, or realistic..just imaginative.
What about a simple cartoon drawn on a piece of paper, a made up fictional character, a fictional appearance that you used your imagination to create? Can that be deemed immitating Allah? Or is it simply just use of imagination? E.g. Are cartoons, that are based on the artists imagination rather than direct tracing/re-creating, haram?