Answered by Sidi Tabraze Azam
Question: I bought a shower curtain and found that it has drawings of bees and butterflies on it. Is this acceptable?
Answer: Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
This would not be considered unlawful to acquire or keep, as it is not considered a respected use of an image (unlike hanging it, for example) [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar].
It is mentioned in Imam `Ala al-Din al-Haskafi’s al-Durr al-Mukhtar that, among the types of pictures that are not prohibited to have are those that are: (small) such that the details of their limbs are not apparent to someone who looks down at them standing while they are on the ground, as Halabi mentioned, (or with their head or face cut off) or with an organ effaced out that the body cannot live without, (or of an inanimate object).
Therefore if the drawings are small, for example, it would not be prohibited to have them, although following the way of the righteous would entail leaving such products for other more dignified ones, as such images remain impermissible (and sinful) to make, and it is from scrupulousness to avoid acquiring them.
And Allah knows best.
wassalaam,
Tabraze Azam
Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani