Explanation of the hadith of Ibn 'Umar (that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made an appointment with Jibril (peace be upon him) to come to him, but he delayed.)

The Shaykh : And from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), he said: Narrated by al-Bukhari. "Ratha" is with the thaa al-muthallathah, not with a hamzah; it does not mean "ra'atha" (to be late in the sense of missing), but rather "ratha" meaning he was slow or delayed.
This hadith contains an important benefit that clarifies for us the reason for the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in this hadith: He said that in response to Jibril, on the occasion that he had an appointment with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but Jibril delayed and was slow. In some narrations, it is mentioned that distress, sadness, and agitation appeared on the face of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so some of his wives asked him about it. He said, "Jibril made an appointment with me," meaning he delayed. Then Jibril quickly appeared outside the house, outside the room, so the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) hastened to him. Jibril (peace be upon him) said to him: The image that was in the house was not an idol, nor in the technical sense of today a statue, but rather it was an image on a curtain, as will be mentioned in some narrations. In that is clear evidence, like the evidence of the hadith of 'Aishah mentioned in the previous lesson, regarding the warning against making images and the clarification, as in this hadith, that angels do not enter a house in which there is an image. This means that in this hadith and that one, the image is one that has no shadow, i.e., an image drawn on cloth or on paper. It is not intended, as some moderns imagine following some of the early scholars who did not fully grasp the hadiths transmitted in this chapter—and I mean the earlier ones, as for the contemporary scholars today, they know such hadiths, but they go around them and find ways to circumvent them by various tricks and interpretations, as some of that will be mentioned. So, this image that prevents the entry of angels is an image that has no shadow and is not three-dimensional, but rather it is drawn on the curtain. And likewise in the hadith of 'Aishah mentioned in the previous lesson, as we said: Or as he (peace be upon him) said, and he pointed to the image that was on the curtain.