What is the ruling on children's dolls made of cloth stuffed with cotton? And is it permissible to draw the eyes and mouth on their heads?
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The questioner : A questioner says: What is the ruling on children's dolls made of cloth stuffed with cotton? And is it permissible to draw the eyes and mouth on their heads? Please give us a ruling on this, may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : What I see—and Allah knows best—is that making these statues or dolls for young children is a permissible matter in the Sunnah. However, I do not see the deep elaboration in depicting and forming them as mentioned in the question. This is because I observe something, and this is in fact one of the subtle points of knowledge that students of knowledge should note:
Regarding these children's toys and their presence in the house, although they are statues, there are two opinions among scholars. One is that they are not permissible, applying the general texts that prohibit image-making and keeping images in homes. Some say that these images are exempted from the general texts in terms of both making and keeping them. This is what we adopt and consider correct, if Allah wills. However, we do not doubt that when the Wise Lawgiver exempts a ruling from a general text, it is for a wisdom that may be apparent to some people and hidden from others. We observe that one of the wisdoms in permitting these toys for young children is to train them in matters related to household affairs, which is called today home management; such as sewing, attaching a button, and the like. As for the deep elaboration in depicting faces, eyes, noses, and mouths with lines, this is related to what they call art. The Wise Lawgiver permitted this for an apparent benefit for young girls, such as Aisha, for example, and the like. It is not in the interest of a girl to concern herself with this precision in depiction. Therefore, they say: "What is contrary to analogy is not to be used as a basis for analogy." We cannot expand here beyond what the text benefited us with regarding the toys of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). It was not reported that they were toys with this precision in depiction. So it is sufficient to make these statues from rags, and nothing else.
As for the claim that this is abrogated by the generality of those hadiths, this is, in my belief, an oversight of some conditions that scholars of usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence) mention in their books. It is required in knowing the abrogating and the abrogated that one first knows which is earlier and which is later. Second—and this is more important—it must not be possible to reconcile the two texts in the first place. If reconciliation becomes difficult at that point, then one proceeds to abrogation.
As for the claim that this specific ruling is abrogated by the general text, scholars of fiqh—meaning usul al-fiqh—never say this. And in reality, some of the noble scholars fall into this, abrogating some specific texts because they oppose some general texts. The correct position is that the general text is specified by the specific text. Even though the Salaf (the earliest generations) use the term "abrogating" for the specifying text and "abrogated" for the general text, they mean that a part of its parts is the abrogated one. When the difference between the terminology of the Salaf and the terminology of the Khalaf (the later generations) regarding the abrogating and the abrogated is observed, many difficulties disappear for the student of knowledge when he finds, for example, al-Suyuti in his book *Al-Itqan fi 'Ulum al-Qur'an* mentioning that there are approximately three hundred abrogated verses. He means this under the general terminology; the general Salafi terminology means, by the specific Khalafi terminology, specification, as you said. At that point, the difficulty disappears. Three hundred abrogated verses! No, there are never such abrogated verses in the Qur'an, but they mean specified.
Accordingly, the hadiths about children's toys that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) used to make for herself, and which some of the Ansar used to make for their children to keep them occupied so they would not break their fast with food during Ramadan; these are to be very primitive and superficial toys, solely to achieve the benefit we mentioned earlier. And Allah knows best.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The Shaykh : What I see—and Allah knows best—is that making these statues or dolls for young children is a permissible matter in the Sunnah. However, I do not see the deep elaboration in depicting and forming them as mentioned in the question. This is because I observe something, and this is in fact one of the subtle points of knowledge that students of knowledge should note:
Regarding these children's toys and their presence in the house, although they are statues, there are two opinions among scholars. One is that they are not permissible, applying the general texts that prohibit image-making and keeping images in homes. Some say that these images are exempted from the general texts in terms of both making and keeping them. This is what we adopt and consider correct, if Allah wills. However, we do not doubt that when the Wise Lawgiver exempts a ruling from a general text, it is for a wisdom that may be apparent to some people and hidden from others. We observe that one of the wisdoms in permitting these toys for young children is to train them in matters related to household affairs, which is called today home management; such as sewing, attaching a button, and the like. As for the deep elaboration in depicting faces, eyes, noses, and mouths with lines, this is related to what they call art. The Wise Lawgiver permitted this for an apparent benefit for young girls, such as Aisha, for example, and the like. It is not in the interest of a girl to concern herself with this precision in depiction. Therefore, they say: "What is contrary to analogy is not to be used as a basis for analogy." We cannot expand here beyond what the text benefited us with regarding the toys of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). It was not reported that they were toys with this precision in depiction. So it is sufficient to make these statues from rags, and nothing else.
As for the claim that this is abrogated by the generality of those hadiths, this is, in my belief, an oversight of some conditions that scholars of usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence) mention in their books. It is required in knowing the abrogating and the abrogated that one first knows which is earlier and which is later. Second—and this is more important—it must not be possible to reconcile the two texts in the first place. If reconciliation becomes difficult at that point, then one proceeds to abrogation.
As for the claim that this specific ruling is abrogated by the general text, scholars of fiqh—meaning usul al-fiqh—never say this. And in reality, some of the noble scholars fall into this, abrogating some specific texts because they oppose some general texts. The correct position is that the general text is specified by the specific text. Even though the Salaf (the earliest generations) use the term "abrogating" for the specifying text and "abrogated" for the general text, they mean that a part of its parts is the abrogated one. When the difference between the terminology of the Salaf and the terminology of the Khalaf (the later generations) regarding the abrogating and the abrogated is observed, many difficulties disappear for the student of knowledge when he finds, for example, al-Suyuti in his book *Al-Itqan fi 'Ulum al-Qur'an* mentioning that there are approximately three hundred abrogated verses. He means this under the general terminology; the general Salafi terminology means, by the specific Khalafi terminology, specification, as you said. At that point, the difficulty disappears. Three hundred abrogated verses! No, there are never such abrogated verses in the Qur'an, but they mean specified.
Accordingly, the hadiths about children's toys that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) used to make for herself, and which some of the Ansar used to make for their children to keep them occupied so they would not break their fast with food during Ramadan; these are to be very primitive and superficial toys, solely to achieve the benefit we mentioned earlier. And Allah knows best.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
Source
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