Q: I had an art project on the Mexican day of the dead festival and painted canvases that I think are haram. I painted two girls and one of them represented life and the other one represented death. One of them was with glowing eyes and I wrote in my art book that it shows birth and that she has life in her or something like that. The other one had two hands reaching out to her and I painted this because in the Mexican day of the dead festival they call out to spirits which is shirk. I also wrote that she could be depicted as a soul keeper but I didn't know about shirk at the time and I think about what I did until recently I realised how bad this is.
I even wrote stuff like these girls are like guardians of heaven and earth like a metaphor but I didn't believe in any of this. I also wrote how one of the girls in the canvas her soul is either going back to her too it was for my art project and I did it last year but I found my art book and these canvases and I ripped them up. I have one more canvas left and this canvas I named it "spirit lurer" which I don't know if this is shirk or not? If it is shirk, shall I get rid of the canvas or is it allowed to be painted over the skulls of the painting and what if I leave the face of the girl on there and turn the painting into a girl in a jungle and not holding the skull? Because the canvas is still linked to day of the dead but what if I get rid of the day of the dead element? I got rid of the other two canvases of the girls but this canvas i didn't get rid of yet because i didn't think it was shirk since i only named it "spirit lurer" but i thought maybe i can change the name of the painting. in the painting its only of a girl holding a skull unlike the other paintings.
A: This is extremely detrimental to your Imaan. Drawing these kufr images takes a person out of the fold of Islam. As a precaution, you should repeat the kalima and sincerely repent to Allah Ta'ala for committing this major sin. Make it known to all the people who had knowledge of this that you had committed this major sin and that you have broken the allegiance and loyalty with Allah Ta'ala and that you sincerely beg His forgiveness. Similarly, you should make a firm resolve that you will never repeat this sin in the future. Immediately destroy the last image that you had drawn. If you are married, then you should repeat your nikaah and if you had done hajj, you should repeat your hajj.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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