Wages for making images of animate beings on utensils

Question

Question: In our Moradabad there is work in utensils; some utensils are also made in the form of a figure of a deity (an idol), and on some utensils they make and engrave figures of deities and animate animals — a camel, a fish and the like. Is making and engraving these figures of deities and animals permissible or not, and is taking a wage for it permissible or not?

Answer

On utensils pictures of animate beings are made, and flowers and floral patterns are made as well; thus here too part of the work is permissible and part impermissible, and because of this the whole work will not be called impermissible. After all, the real value lies in the goods themselves; on some utensils the picture is made merely for decoration.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.