Fatwa: 298

Category: miscellaneous fatwas

The ruling regarding watching cartoons

The question:

What is the ruling regarding watching cartoons?

The answer:

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon whom Allah sent as a mercy to the Worlds, upon his Family, his Companions and his Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

If cartoons, which are part of cartoon films, are in conformity with the religious norms, such as the good intention and being meaningful i.e. realizing guiding, informative and educational objectives; if they are free from any kind of dissoluteness, unveiling, music and bad education; if they are not opposite to Islamic morals and good manners and they are free from any call to Shirk (polytheism), undervaluing the religion and its matters through funny style and defaming expressions, and free from driving people away from religion by what is proposed by these cartoons; in this case, watching them is allowed. Moreover, cartoons may be recommended if they convey a correct religious education.

However, it is known that pictures which are used in a disrespectful manner are allowed, according to the Prophet's صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم prohibiting pictures except those which are a sign on a dress(1), and also according to the hadith reported by `Â'isha and her playing with dolls(2). Ibn Qudâma said in "Al-Mughni" [7/216] when speaking about answering the invitation to the marriage banquet: "If the head of the picture is cut off, it is no longer detestable [i.e. prohibited]… also, if the picture contains a body without a head or a head without a body or if it has a head and its body is not that of an animal, it is not then prohibited, because this would not be the picture of an animal".

The perfect knowledge belongs to Allah عزَّ وجلَّ. Our last prayer is all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessing be upon our Prophet, his Family, his Companions and Brothers till the Day of Resurrection.

Algiers, Ramadân 8th, 1426 H
Corresponding to October 11th, 2005



(1) Reported by Al-Bukhâri, chapter of "Dress", concerning the one who dislikes sitting down on pictures (hadith 5613), Muslim, chapter of "Dress and adornment", concerning the prohibition from drawing the picture of an animal (hadith 5640), Abu Dâwûd, chapter of "Dress", concerning "The pictures" (hadith 4155), At-Tirmidhi, chapter of "Dress", concerning what is reported about the picture (hadith 1750) and An-Nassâ'i, chapter of "Adornment", concerning "Pictures" (hadith 5350) on the authority of Abu Talha رضي الله عنه.

(2) Reported by Abu Dâwûd, chapter of "The good manners" (hadith 4932) on the authority of `Â'isha رضي الله عنها who said: "When the Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم arrived after the expedition to Tabuk or Khaybar, the draught raised an end of a curtain which was hung in front of her store-room, revealing some dolls which belonged to her.

He asked: "What is this?". She replied: "My dolls". Among them, he saw a horse with wings made of rags, and asked: "What is this I see among them?" She replied: "A horse". He asked: "What is this that it has on it?". She replied: "Two wings". He asked: "A horse with two wings?" She replied: "Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings?". She said: "Thereupon the Prophet صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم laughed so heartily that I could see his molar teeth". This hadith has been judged authentic by Al-Albâni in "Âdâb Az-Zifâf" (170). Its origin is reported in Al-Bukhâri's "Sahîh", chapter of "The good manners", concerning being kind to people (hadith 5779).

.: Every publication which has not been mentioned in the official website is not relied on, nor ascribed to the Sheikh :.

.: The website publications in other than Islamic occasions should not be kept up with the recent events of the nation or with the occurring

calamities because they are not informative publications, but they are jurisprudential, scientific and legal topics :.

.: The website administration prohibits reproducing, translating or utilizing any part of its material for trade purposes;

and authorizes benefiting from the content of the website for research

or Da`wa on condition that there should be a reference to the site when extracting information :.

All Rights Reserved (1424 H/2004 G – 1444 H/2022 G)