Explanation of the Second Hadith: The Hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), in which she said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) returned from a journey, and I had covered a niche in my wall with a curtain containing…

The Shaykh : The second hadith is from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: A niche is a recess in the wall; a curtain is a drape. Meaning it contained images. Here is a linguistic point regarding our current distance from the Arabic language, or the dominance of certain terms: today, we understand the word “statue” or “statues” to mean idols. For example, we do not call the statue of Malik a “picture”; it is certainly a picture, just as the pictures we keep on paper are also called “statues” in the language of the Arabs. The proof of this is this hadith. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) entered upon Lady Aisha in this story, he saw that she had hung a curtain with statues on it. Statues are placed on walls, not on curtains, but the language is broad. If I say “picture,” it may mean an idol or a picture without a shadow. Likewise, if I say “statue,” it means a picture, which may be three-dimensional or not. This usage appeared in this hadith in a sense that many people do not notice. So, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw statues on the curtain, meaning pictures, either painted or embroidered. They were not idols. She said: Meaning his face changed with anger and turned red. And he said: Meaning those who engage in image-making, whether three-dimensional or not, imitating the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His creation, competing with the creation of Allah, meaning what Allah creates. Allah creates these bodies and these animals, and they also compete. As is known, competition does not necessarily have to be in all aspects. The one who carves a statue or draws a picture on paper competes with the Lord of the Worlds in terms of craftsmanship and form. But the most important thing in that is breathing the soul. Therefore, when he is incapable of it, he will be punished on the Day of Resurrection by being ordered to breathe the soul, but he will not be able to, and he is not a breather. So, the competition intended here, which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the cause for the prohibition of image-making in this hadith, is the apparent formal competition. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He said: She said: “So we cut it up and made from it a cushion or two cushions.” And in a narration, she said: Here the narrator used the word “images” in place of “statues,” so the meaning is the same. The proof I referred to in my commentary on the first hadith of Umar has arrived: “Those who make these images.” We said that the demonstrative pronoun refers to non-three-dimensional images, and this is the evidence, because the story of Lady Aisha has this occasion and this cause, which is the Prophet’s entry upon her while she had hung the curtain with the statues and images on it. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to these images on the curtain and said: .