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Fatwa CenterPrinting pictures of sacred places on currency notes
Question
Is it permissible for an Islamic state to print depictions of the Holy places on its currency notes.
Answer
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.
It is permissible to print pictures of the sacred places on currency notes because the basic principle in this regard is permissibility, and this does not constitute any disrespect.
Some contemporary scholars underlined that sitting on or stepping over carpets that have images of sacred places does not constitute disrespect because these are mere images of the sacred places and not the very sacred places themselves. Ibn ʻUthaymeen 
was once asked, “Some people argue that it is impermissible to sit on the mat that has the picture of the Kaʻbah; is this true?” He replied, “There is no harm in sitting on such a mat even if it bears the image of the Kaʻbah or the room housing the grave of the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, because the person sitting on that mat does not intend any disrespect for the Kaʻbah or the grave of the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, with his action. Moreover, these are mere images and not the very sacred places themselves.” [Fataawa Noor ʻala ad-Darb]
Shaykh ʻAbdullaah ibn ʻUqayl was asked, “Is it permissible to step over a carpet bearing the image of the scared mosques?” He replied, “There is no religious impediment to stepping over a carpet or mat that bears the image of the Kaʻbah; the person would go inside the Kaʻbah itself, the House of Allaah, and step over its floor and no one could blame him for that.”
If sitting and stepping on those images does not imply any disrespect, then using currency notes that bear the images of sacred places is not disrespectful with greater reason.
Allaah knows best.
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