Ruling on Buying Dolls for Girls
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What is the ruling on buying dolls for girls and the pictures found in books, such as pictures of animals and birds and others, since children find pleasure in looking at them and learn through looking at them? I do not know what the ruling on that is?
What is called children's dolls, which are three-dimensional images in the form of a woman, girl, or boy, falls into two categories: The first category is permissible and there is no issue with it. This is what is being made recently, where the images are like shadows, having no eyes, nose, or mouth. There is no issue with the permissibility of these, and 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) had dolls of this type with which she used to play.
The second category: What is made of plastic and is in the exact form of a human image, including the eyes, lips, eyelashes, and eyebrows, to the point that some of them may walk and make sounds, this is a matter of consideration regarding its permissibility, but I do not take a strict stance on it; because the hadith of 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that she used to play with dolls,It may be said: indicates a margin of leniency and expansion for the girl, especially since she obtains from it, as I said, some pleasure,But with this, we say: as long as there is something available that suffices for that, one should not turn to something doubtful when there is something without doubt;Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt).
As for the images of other animals, such as the horse, the lion, and the like, there is absolutely no justification for keeping them, and one can do without them by using images of manufactured machines, such as the car, the tractor, and the like, for the boy plays with them just as he plays with images of other animals. And if there is no alternative, such that a person is gifted something of these animals, he cuts off its head and keeps it without a head, and there is no harm in this.
What is called children's dolls, which are three-dimensional images in the form of a woman, girl, or boy, falls into two categories: The first category is permissible and there is no issue with it. This is what is being made recently, where the images are like shadows, having no eyes, nose, or mouth. There is no issue with the permissibility of these, and 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) had dolls of this type with which she used to play.
The second category: What is made of plastic and is in the exact form of a human image, including the eyes, lips, eyelashes, and eyebrows, to the point that some of them may walk and make sounds, this is a matter of consideration regarding its permissibility, but I do not take a strict stance on it; because the hadith of 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that she used to play with dolls,It may be said: indicates a margin of leniency and expansion for the girl, especially since she obtains from it, as I said, some pleasure,But with this, we say: as long as there is something available that suffices for that, one should not turn to something doubtful when there is something without doubt;Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt).
As for the images of other animals, such as the horse, the lion, and the like, there is absolutely no justification for keeping them, and one can do without them by using images of manufactured machines, such as the car, the tractor, and the like, for the boy plays with them just as he plays with images of other animals. And if there is no alternative, such that a person is gifted something of these animals, he cuts off its head and keeps it without a head, and there is no harm in this.