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Arts in Islam

The Quran does not tell us how to decorate our places of worship. God tells us in Quran that we are to devote our worship to God alone. If two or more believers are gathered in someone's home to pray, there is no logical reason to remove the wall decorations in order to pray, unless these decorations are distracting and interfere with worship. God is the Most Merciful and leaves these concerns to us to use our common sense.

Many hadiths have been written forbidding manner of things and have no basis in Quran.

Films and fiction stories based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad

God commands us to compete in righteousness. God also gives us free will. Clearly the Quran was revealed prior to modern-day film making. Thus there is nothing written in Quran that forbids making movies depicting the life of any prophet or messenger. Movies such as the Ten Commandments have been made that closely follow the story of Moses and the Children of Israel that we find in the Old Testament of the Bible as well as in the Quran. Movies and plays about Jesus have also been made, such as The Greatest Story Ever Told, or Jesus Christ, Superstar. The Quran tells us that God sent all the prophets and messengers and that we are not to distinguish between them as one being superior over the others. Ironically, while Muslims do not object to movies or theater productions of Moses, Noah, Jesus, David or Solomon, they put Muhammad on a pedestal against the directives of the Quran, and become incensed over movies, novels and cartoons.

Indeed, many cartoons and other forms of media are offensive and portray the prophet Muhammad in a negative light. These forms of media merely serve to expose the ignorance of those who create them as having an agenda to denigrate Islam and Muslims. The Quran tells us to ignore such people and disregard them for the disbelievers they are. There is no wrong in speaking out or condemning such media, but the Quran does not permit us to aggress against anyone by killing or terrorizing them.


Dolls and sculptures


Like everything else, dolls can be a creative form of expression, for role playing and education, or dolls can be used for evil purposes, as in the use of magic and voodoo. The Quran tells us that God permitted the jinns to work for Solomon, creating niches and statues. If dolls and sculptures were forbidden, God would have told us in the Quran, and would not have given us the example of Solomon.


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