Does a lion’s skin fall under the ruling of an image?

Question

Question: Hunters, after hunting a lion, a leopard and the like, remove its hide in such a way that they leave the whole head with it; then they tan the hide, clean out the inner part of the head somehow as well, and keep in the house this hide, with which is the whole head together with the eyes and so on. The question is: is it permissible to keep an animal’s head in this way, or, like an image, will keeping it also be impermissible?

Answer

This does not fall under the ruling of an image. Editor’s note: because this is only a hide and skin; it has not been stuffed with anything to give it the form of a lion.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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