Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Making and hanging pictures are haraam, is having cuckoo clock with a bell where the cuckoo koo`s and bell chimes every hour haraam? 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Are cuckoo clocks legal?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Al-Muwatta Hadith 54.6

Abu Said said , "The Messenger of Allah (saws) informed us, 'The Angels do not enter a house which contains pictures or images.'

The Angels of Mercy do not enter a house which contains pictures or images of animate objects; thus it would be best to abstain from keeping any image of an animate object in one’s house.

The image of the ‘cuckoo’ would obviously be considered an animate object and would thus be impermissible to keep such an image in a believer’s house.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan