Short answer
In the Hanafi school, drawing a full face of a person or animal is not allowed, and leaving out only the eyes does not make it permitted, because the face is still there. A completely blank face, a figure without a head, or a drawing of eyes alone is permitted. Muslims are not forbidden from drawing eyes as such.
An image of a living being is forbidden when its head and face are complete. It stops being a forbidden image when the head is removed or the face is wiped out so that it could not live. Removing only the eyes or eyebrows is not enough, as Ibn Abidin states. Drawing eyes, hands or other parts on their own is permitted.
Other madhhabs
- Maliki
- The firm prohibition is for complete three-dimensional figures that cast a shadow; flat drawings are disliked rather than haram in the main view.
Explanation
The basis is a hadith in which Jibril told the Prophet ﷺ to have the head of a statue cut off so that it would be like a tree. The Hanafi scholars took the rule that what makes an image forbidden is a figure that looks alive, and the head is what decides that. Ibn Abidin adds that removing the eyes or eyebrows does not count, since images are worshipped even without them.
So the idea that 'Muslims cannot draw eyes' is a mix-up. The ruling is about whole faces, not eyes. In practice:
- Full face with features: not allowed, whether realistic, anime, cartoon or chibi style.
- Face without eyes but with nose and mouth: still a face, so still not allowed in the Hanafi view.
- Blank, featureless face: allowed. This is common in Muslim children's books.
- Figure from behind, silhouette, or a body cut off at the neck: allowed.
- An eye, a hand, lips or a foot on its own: allowed, since it is not an image of a living being.
- Anatomy studies for medicine or art school: need is considered; ask a mufti about your course.
Some scholars from other schools are more lenient on flat drawings, and some modern scholars allow cartoons for teaching children. The Hanafi position is the one above. For the wider ruling and the hadith in full, see is drawing haram. For photos, see taking pictures.
The evidence
Sunan Abi Dawud 4158
Graded sahih... فمر برأس التمثال الذي في البيت يقطع فيصير كهيئة الشجرة ...
"Order that the head of the statue in the house be cut off so that it becomes like a tree."
Removing the head ends the prohibition on an image.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2225
Sahih... من صور صورة فإن الله معذبه حتى ينفخ فيها الروح ...
"Whoever makes an image, Allah will punish him until he breathes a soul into it, and he will never be able to."
The warning is tied to images of beings with a soul; Ibn Abbas, who narrated it, then told a painter to draw trees and other things without a soul.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, chapter on what is disliked in prayer, on images. An image without a head is not forbidden; removing the eyes or eyebrows is not enough.
- Mukhtasar Khalil with al-Sharh al-Kabir, Chapter on the wedding feast, on images. The Maliki view that the firm prohibition is for figures with a shadow.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.