4932 - Muhammad ibn 'Awf narrated to us, Sa'id ibn Abi Maryam narrated to us, Yahya ibn Ayyub informed us, he said: 'Umarah ibn Ghaziyyah narrated to me, that Muhammad ibn Ibrahim narrated to him, from Abu Salamah ibn 'Abd al-Rahman, from 'A'ishah, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, returned from the expedition of Tabuk, or Khaybar, and in her niche there was a curtain. A wind blew and lifted the edge of the curtain, revealing some dolls belonging to 'A'ishah. He said: "What is this, O 'A'ishah?" She said: "My daughters." And he saw among them a horse with two wings made of scraps of cloth, so he said: "What is this that I see among them?" She said: "A horse." He said: "And what is this on it?" She said: "Two wings." He said: "A horse with two wings?!" She said: "Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings?" She said: Then he laughed until I saw his molar teeth.

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It was also narrated similarly by al-Bukhari (6130), Muslim (2440), Ibn Majah (1982), and al-Nasa'i in al-Kubra (8897), (8898), and (8899) via various chains from Hisham ibn 'Urwah, with this chain of transmission.

Al-Nasa'i also narrated it in al-Kubra (8900) via the route of Yazid ibn Harun, from 'Urwah, from 'A'ishah, who said: I used to play with dolls during the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.

It is also found in Musnad Ahmad (24298), and Sahih Ibn Hibban (5863), (5864), and (5866).

And see what follows after it.

This hadith has been used as evidence, as mentioned in al-Fath 10/527, for the permissibility of making images of dolls and toys for the purpose of girls playing with them, and this is specified as an exception from the general prohibition on making images. This was affirmed definitively by 'Iyad, who transmitted it from the majority of scholars, and that they permitted the sale of toys for girls to train them from a young age in the matters of their households and their children.

(1) The hadith is authentic, and this chain is good because of Yahya ibn Ayyub — who is al-Ghafiqi — a truthful narrator, and the rest of its narrators are trustworthy. Sa'id ibn Abi Maryam: he is Sa'id ibn al-Hakam ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Maryam, and Muhammad ibn Ibrahim: he is Ibn al-Harith al-Taymi.