Is the prohibition of dolls solely because they are imported from the lands of disbelief, and what is the operative cause of the prohibition of dolls?

The questioner : ... regarding children's dolls, the prohibition and the impermissibility, is it because they came from the lands of the disbelievers? Or is it because they are not made at home?

The Shaykh : This is all just spinning the wheel.

The questioner : You notice that the matter may differ.

The Shaykh : Yes, we mentioned two things first: it is not home-made, and the text that permits it only permits what is made at home. The second thing I mentioned is that these images, these statues that come to us from the West, carry within them their customs, their traditions, their tastes, their lack of honor, their lack of morals, and so on. So, we bring these statues into our homes without realizing what we are doing. For example, this small doll represents a little girl with golden hair, specially curled, wearing a skirt that exposes her thighs, and so on. When we bring this into our home, it means we want to imprint our young children with these customs and these morals. For this reason and that reason, we said that it is not permissible except to use home-made images. That is what I said earlier. So, what do you have to say?

The questioner : It is possible to make them at home just as they are made among the disbelievers, and it is possible to select from what the disbelievers have made what suits our Shari'ah. So, if we set conditions, it would be better if it were not imported.

The Shaykh : How do you mean?

The questioner : I mean, this danger that will come from the lands of the disbelievers, the Muslims might do it in their homes.

The Shaykh : So, let us encourage them to do it and not stand in the way of ...?

The questioner : So, the prohibition is for specific characteristics in this doll, and not because it is ...

The Shaykh : Do we stand in their way so that we do not listen to them?

The questioner : Of course, we stand in their way.

The Shaykh : And this is what we said.

The questioner : Okay, and I would add that this thing, not everything that comes from ...

The Shaykh : My brother, we are dealing with reality. You are now searching in imagination.

The questioner : No, it is not imagination, O Shaykh, everything that comes ...

The Shaykh : Allow me, my brother, we are dealing with reality. Have the European dolls not invaded Muslim homes? The countries you are now talking about, saying that we can make them at home, do they exist?

The questioner : You are the one who said that they are permissible ...

The Shaykh : What am I asking you? May Allah be pleased with you. Do not waste our time on something like this? Do they exist? Say they exist or say they do not.

The questioner : They do not exist.

The Shaykh : Okay, this is what I am saying. We are dealing with our reality now. When this problem that you are imagining occurs, every incident has its own story. What is the problem that came to your mind that makes you imagine that Muslims might do that? We will say at that time that it is not permissible. We say on this occasion that it is not permissible for the Muslim doctor to make a medicine that contains alcohol as one of its components; why? Because this requires making intoxicants. It is not permissible for there to be a Muslim home, or in the Islamic lands, where there is intoxicants. This is not permissible. So, how do you still imagine? You say it is not permissible for such and such, but the Muslims might do it. If the Muslims do it, they will fall into another problem and another calamity. So, we do not allow them to do that. As long as we do not allow them to import these statues because of the customs and traditions in them that contradict Islam, do you think we allow making them at home? The answer is no, a fortiori. So, there is no problem in this. Yes.