The issue of excluding dolls from the forbidden images, based on what is reported in al-Bukhari that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to send to Aisha her companions from
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The Shaykh : There is a further discussion or continuation of this research. After we have established that all images are forbidden, as detailed previously, is there anything excluded from this prohibition? The hadith narrated by Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) states that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to send to her her companions, girls of her age and peers, to play with her using girls' toys, meaning the images that were made for a girl to play with and amuse herself in her house. Her neighbors, her peers, were sent by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) to her to play with her. This is a hadith narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih. Abu Dawud also narrated from her with a sound chain that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) entered upon her one day and found her among her toys, and among them were horses with wings. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) expressed surprise, saying She said: "O Messenger of Allah, has it not reached you that the horses of Sulayman (peace be upon him) had wings?" The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) laughed. The meaning of this is his approval of her regarding two matters: first, playing with these toys, and second, that there is no objection or harm in these toys being three-dimensional and representing a creation that does not exist except in the imagination, and I mean by that the winged horses. We benefit from this last hadith, narrated by Abu Dawud, a benefit that we do not derive from the first hadith narrated by al-Bukhari. From both of them together, we derive the benefit that it is permissible for children to play with three-dimensional images. As for Aisha's hadith in Abu Dawud, the benefit we derive from it would not have occurred to us had not some writers in the present age interpreted the hadiths forbidding image-making as applying only when the image differs from what Allah created. On this basis, they interpreted this hadith, or one of the hadiths mentioned in the previous lesson, the Qudsi hadith Sahih al-Bukhari 7559 They interpreted this hadith as applying to images that differ from what Allah depicted and created. We derived a refutation of this interpretation from the aforementioned hadith of Aisha, because Aisha depicted horses with wings. This contradicts what Allah created. If the prohibition were specifically directed only at images that differ in form from what Allah depicted and created, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have approved of these winged horses because they do not resemble what Allah created.
This benefit is unique to Abu Dawud's hadith from Aisha. It indicates to us that the operative cause of the prohibition of images is not that they do not resemble Allah's creation, but rather that the prohibition is absolute and includes every image made by the created human being, except for what we are currently discussing as an exception. Aisha's first and second hadiths indicate the permissibility of children playing with girls' toys, meaning dolls. Similarly, a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih indicates this. It states that the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), when they were fasting their children who had not reached the age of accountability and the age of obligation, would make toys for them from wool and cotton to amuse them from food and drink until they broke their fast with the fasting adult men. This hadith and that one indicate the permissibility of using images, which are originally prohibited, when this use results in a predominant benefit that is not associated with clear harm. This hadith and that hadith are important in my view and in terms of evidence, because they open the door for scholars to adopt a middle position between the permissibility of image-making, which many scholars and writers today have leaned toward, granting general permissibility on the grounds that images today are captured by the photographic machine—and you have known that this argument is refuted—and other scholars who adhere to absolute prohibition without any exception. Aisha's hadith and the Companions' hadith regarding making toys from wool indicate, or open the door for scholars, to exclude some images from the prohibition. And this exclusion should be like Aisha's toys and the toys of fasting children, meaning that no result follows from it except benefit. As for Aisha's toys, the benefit in them is clear, and it is the training of the girl from her early age to care for raising her children and sons, and to care for their clothes, mending, patching, sewing, and the like. As for the other hadith, it involves making images as amusement for children to divert them from breaking the obligatory fast. If this is clarified, any image can be included with these images if, as we said, a predominant benefit results from it and no apparent harm is associated with it.
Horses with wings
خيل ذوات أجنحةWho are most unjust than those who try to create something like My creation? I challenge them to create even a smallest ant, a wheat grain or a barley grain.
و من أظلم ممن ذهب يخلق كخلقي فليخلقوا ذرة ، فليخلقوا حبة ، فليخلقوا شعيرةThis benefit is unique to Abu Dawud's hadith from Aisha. It indicates to us that the operative cause of the prohibition of images is not that they do not resemble Allah's creation, but rather that the prohibition is absolute and includes every image made by the created human being, except for what we are currently discussing as an exception. Aisha's first and second hadiths indicate the permissibility of children playing with girls' toys, meaning dolls. Similarly, a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih indicates this. It states that the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), when they were fasting their children who had not reached the age of accountability and the age of obligation, would make toys for them from wool and cotton to amuse them from food and drink until they broke their fast with the fasting adult men. This hadith and that one indicate the permissibility of using images, which are originally prohibited, when this use results in a predominant benefit that is not associated with clear harm. This hadith and that hadith are important in my view and in terms of evidence, because they open the door for scholars to adopt a middle position between the permissibility of image-making, which many scholars and writers today have leaned toward, granting general permissibility on the grounds that images today are captured by the photographic machine—and you have known that this argument is refuted—and other scholars who adhere to absolute prohibition without any exception. Aisha's hadith and the Companions' hadith regarding making toys from wool indicate, or open the door for scholars, to exclude some images from the prohibition. And this exclusion should be like Aisha's toys and the toys of fasting children, meaning that no result follows from it except benefit. As for Aisha's toys, the benefit in them is clear, and it is the training of the girl from her early age to care for raising her children and sons, and to care for their clothes, mending, patching, sewing, and the like. As for the other hadith, it involves making images as amusement for children to divert them from breaking the obligatory fast. If this is clarified, any image can be included with these images if, as we said, a predominant benefit results from it and no apparent harm is associated with it.