Islam & Snowmen

[NulliuSINverba]

A recent news item struck me as rather curious:

A prominent Saudi Arabian cleric has whipped up controversy by issuing a religious ruling forbidding the building of snowmen, described them as anti-Islamic.

Asked on a religious website if it was permissible for fathers to build snowmen for their children after a snowstorm in the country's north, Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid replied: "It is not permitted to make a statue out of snow, even by way of play and fun."

A snowman is a statue? I suppose my first argument against any such silliness is that statues don't typically melt. However, it may just be a question of time:

Q. - Erosion and melting. The same thing?

Sheikh Munajjid argued that to build a snowman was to create an image of a human being, an action considered sinful under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.

Q. - Are abstract snow sculptures permissible?

"God has given people space to make whatever they want which does not have a soul, including trees, ships, fruits, buildings and so on," he wrote in his ruling.

Snowmen Statues have souls? Where is this supported in Islamic scriptures? That must be from a very obscure hadith, perhaps? I cannot find any reference to statues (and by extension snowmen) having souls in my copy of The Qur'an. Perhaps I've been victimized by a bad translation?

At what point does Islam claim that a snowman becomes imbued with a soul? Is it before or after the magical top hat goes on? Are large, yet-to-be-stacked balls of snow imbued with souls?

...

I'm gathering that something soulless like ... a snow train ... would be perfectly acceptable under Islamic Law?

As long as the train isn't anthropomorphic?

Q. - Are trains with human faces imbued with a soul?

Sheikh Munajjid had some supporters, however. "It (building snowmen) is imitating the infidels, it promotes lustiness and eroticism," one wrote.

Snowmen are erotic? Or was this unnamed person actually asserting that imitating the infidels under any circumstances promotes lustiness and eroticism?

Is there no difference between the two?

...

So. What's the consensus?

Q. - Do snowmen promote lustiness and eroticism?

Q. - Would it be permissible within Islam to make giant balls of snow ... and then simply not stack them up?

Q. - Would it be permissible to stack the large snowballs up ... but refrain from decorating the face?

At what point do snowballs become an affront to Islamic sensibilities? Or has one already crossed that line when one simply imagines a snowman?*

Final Question: Is imagination tantamount to creation in Islam?

...

* If imagining a snowman is an affront to your religious sensibilities, I implore you to NOT imagine a snowman. Thanks.

 

[Parsimony]

I have no words...

 

[Lyndon]

I really don't think it snows in Saudi Arabia, so the clerics directions must be purely hypothetical, but probably related to Islamic injunctions against making images or statues of anyone.

 

[NulliuSINverba]

I'm gathering that something soulless like ... a snow train ... would be perfectly acceptable under Islamic Law?

Not all trains are soulless.

I forgot. Please accept my apologies in advance.

 

[FearGod]

A recent news item struck me as rather curious:



A snowman is a statue? I suppose my first argument against any such silliness is that statues don't typically melt. However, it may just be a question of time:

Q. - Erosion and melting. The same thing?



Q. - Are abstract snow sculptures permissible?

Snowmen Statues have souls? Where is this supported in Islamic scriptures? That must be from a very obscure hadith, perhaps? I cannot find any reference to statues (and by extension snowmen) having souls in my copy of The Qur'an. Perhaps I've been victimized by a bad translation?

At what point does Islam claim that a snowman becomes imbued with a soul? Is it before or after the magical top hat goes on? Are large, yet-to-be-stacked balls of snow imbued with souls?

...

I'm gathering that something soulless like ... a snow train ... would be perfectly acceptable under Islamic Law?

As long as the train isn't anthropomorphic?

Q. - Are trains with human faces imbued with a soul?



Snowmen are erotic? Or was this unnamed person actually asserting that imitating the infidels under any circumstances promotes lustiness and eroticism?

Is there no difference between the two?

...

So. What's the consensus?

Q. - Do snowmen promote lustiness and eroticism?

Q. - Would it be permissible within Islam to make giant balls of snow ... and then simply not stack them up?

Q. - Would it be permissible to stack the large snowballs up ... but refrain from decorating the face?

At what point do snowballs become an affront to Islamic sensibilities? Or has one already crossed that line when one simply imagines a snowman?*

Final Question: Is imagination tantamount to creation in Islam?

...

* If imagining a snowman is an affront to your religious sensibilities, I implore you to NOT imagine a snowman. Thanks.

My cousin is cleric and he makes the snowman better than me.

 

[YmirGF]

My cousin is cleric and he makes the snowman better than me.

Well, that certainly warms this frost giant's heart.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

 

[NulliuSINverba]

I really don't think it snows in Saudi Arabia

And no one from Saudi Arabia would ever go to places where it snows, correct?

so the clerics directions must be purely hypothetical, but probably related to Islamic injunctions against making images or statues of anyone.

The cleric's statement clearly says that Muslims are allowed to make that which does not have a soul:

"God has given people space to make whatever they want which does not have a soul, including trees, ships, fruits, buildings and so on," he wrote in his ruling.

So the question remains: Does Islam view inanimate objects (such as statues and snowmen) as being imbued with souls?

And the larger question still looms:

Does Islam view imagination as tantamount to creation? And if so, please don't think of a snowman!

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

We are talking about Saudi Arabia. A country who forbids women to drive cars!
They have very strange interpretation of islam.


They say snowmen is haram, but huge pictures of their kings hanging on the walls is Halal. Very strange regime.

 

[Lyndon]

Strict Islam is against any form of idolatry, and to some this applies to any kind of statue of a living being, may not be entirely logical, but at least its consistent.

 

[NulliuSINverba]

Strict Islam is against any form of idolatry

Isn't idolatry contingent upon some form of worship? Or does the very act of creation (or in the case of a snowman, mere assemblage) imply some sort of worship?

and to some this applies to any kind of statue of a living being, may not be entirely logical, but at least its consistent.

Any Kind Of Living Statue + And To Some = Consistent?

Perhaps Consistent Only To Some?

 

[NulliuSINverba]

They say snowmen is haram, but huge pictures of their kings hanging on the walls is Halal. Very strange regime.

Excellent point.

Would a snowman of the Saudi King be permissible?

 

[Pastek]

Always stupid fatwas ... i guess they have nothing more to do exept forbidding new things.

 

[BSM1]

Snowmen in Saudi Arabia seems to beg the question. I would think that Saudi clerics would be more concerned with the sandman.

 

[beenie]

Am I the only one who is as concerned about the person(s) who ASKED the "scholar" if it's permissible to build a snowman in the first place as I am about the "scholar" who forbids it?

Where do these people come from?

 

[FearGod]

I really don't think it snows in Saudi Arabia, so the clerics directions must be purely hypothetical, but probably related to Islamic injunctions against making images or statues of anyone.

It snows in the north of Saudi Arabia

 

[Lyndon]

My bad, it only snows in the mountains here, except once in a blue moon, I thought Saudi was hotter than Southern Calif.

 

[Sunstone]

Where do these people come from?

I'm guessing that -- at least in part -- they come from their parents and teachers.

 

[Yerda]

Just think, we're all the same species. In another life one of us could have been as good at comedy as this cleric.

 

[NulliuSINverba]

My bad, it only snows in the mountains here, except once in a blue moon, I thought Saudi was hotter than Southern Calif.

Islam is practiced outside the borders of Arabia, isn't it?