Assalamu Alaykum. My 8 year old son says he is in love with a cartoon character and asked me if it is haram. He was also wondering if in Jannah, the character could be brought to life so he could spend eternity with her.
I've found a fatwa on Islamweb.net which answers both of my son's questions. You won't find it on Islamweb as they probably removed it. But I've found it on an Islam Reddit post. Here it is.
"Title: "Marriage with cartoons in the afterlife"
Question: "My youngest child is 12 years old and he asked me an incredibly strange question, and I was not able to answer him, and I hope you could assist me in replying to this question and is this question incorrect or no? and what can I do in such cases?
He told me "Can I marry cartoons in Jannah [paradise] or not?"
Answer: "Praise be to Allah, and may peace and prayers be upon the messenger of Allah and his kin and companions, and as for what follows, :
We have clarified in Fatwa #216193 and what followed it is that a person can get whatever he may wish in Jannah.
And wishing for what is imaginary, Allah may fulfill it, like clouds that rain beautiful maids, and like it marriage with cartoons, Allah may breath life into it.
And what is required is that a slave must ask his lord for paradise, and not go deep into details, for if he/she enters it he/she would get whatever he/she may desire, and check Fatwa #35124.
And you should guide your son to what is higher than that in the grace of Jannah, like marriage to the Hour Al Ayn, which is better than what he wishes to marry from cartoons, and to alert that that is accomplished with good deeds."
This is it and due to the inability to copy and paste on here, I had to write it down, so it took a lot of work. But the question is this. Is this fatwa reliable? I'm worried that this is just an opinion of one man, although Islamweb is generally considered reliable. What is the stance of Muslim scholars on loving a fictional character. Is it haram? And will you have that character as a wife in Jannah.
P.S. Please don't give answers like "ask your imam, or ask a scholar on the internet", because I'm very wary about giving away personal information and my email address. I'm also wary about how reliable these scholars are. I also want knowledgeable Muslims to answer this question, because my son is very worried over this. May Allah bless you, Ameen.