Question

As-salamu alaykum …

I have been collecting gold bars and coins … Alhumdulillah the ones I have do not have any animals and human prints on them however these are limited editions…

The question is going ahead am I allowed to invest into gold bars and coins with prints of animals and humans on them.

Answer

It is generally impermissible to buy and sell images of living beings.

There are some exceptions to this rule. One such case is when the image is subsidiary and not the main object of sale. An example of this is when an item, which is not an image, is being purchased, however, that item has a print of an image on it. In such a case as the original item is the object of sale and the images are only subsidiary the sale will be permissible.

This would also apply to the case in question. If the object of purchase is the gold bars and coins, then the print of the image on the item will not render the sale impermissible.

One point to bear in mind is that if the image is large in size, then the item should be kept covered by placing it in a box or wrapping it in a cloth for instance. A large image is one which if placed on the floor can easily be seen when standing over it. If however, the image is so small that it cannot be made out when placed on the floor, then it will not need to be covered.

الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (1/ 648)
أو على خاتمه) بنقش غير مستبين. قال في البحر ومفاده كراهة المستبين لا المستتر بكيس أو صرة أو ثوب آخر، وأقره المصنف (أو كانت صغيرة) لا تتبين تفاصيل أعضائها للناظر قائما وهي على الأرض، ذكره الحلبي

Fiqh al-Buyu 1:320

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel