Assalaamu alaykum. Is it permissible to keep educational magazines (about wildlife) written by non-Muslims if they contain images of animals and the names of Prophets in the same magazine? May Allaah reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The mere fact that these magazines were written by non-Muslims does not entail deeming it prohibited for the Muslim to keep them if they contain beneficial knowledge.

Also, the fact that they contain names of the Prophets does not mean that it is prohibited to keep them; however, they should be kept in an honorable manner that does not constitute any disrespect to the names therein. The names of the Prophets that should be respected and preserved from being dishonored are those accompanied with words that indicate that they are used as a reference to a Prophet and not names referring to common people. Ibn Hajar said in his Fataawa, “What is meant by the names of the Prophets are the names that are understood to be the name of a Prophet, used with phrases to indicate that it is the name of a Prophet, like 'Muhammad, the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam;' or, 'ʻEesa (Jesus) ;' or, 'Moosa (Moses), whom Allaah had spoken to; and so on. This ruling (of protecting these names from disrespect) does not apply to the common names Muhammad or ʻEesa or Moosa.” For moe benefit, please refer to fatwa 238213.

We have previously underlined the religious ruling on images of living beings whether drawn by hand or photographed in fatwa 85137. Anyway, whether the images in these magazines were drawn by hand or photographed, there is no harm on the person who keeps them for the knowledge and benefit in them.

Shaykh Ibn ʻUthaymeen wrote about the categories of pictures in terms of keeping them:

“The fourth category: Keeping images that one has no desire for in and of themselves, but they come along with something else, like those found in magazines and newspapers that the person does not buy for the sake of the pictures in them; rather, he seeks what is in those magazines and newspapers of news, scientific research and so on. It seems that there is nothing wrong with this because the images in them are not what is sought; however, if it is possible to obliterate them without any harm or difficulty, it would be better.”

Allaah knows best.