On the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah: that he entered upon Abū Ṭalḥah al-Anṣārī to visit him while he was ill, and he found with him Sahl ibn Ḥunayf. He said: Abū Ṭalḥah called for someone to remove a cushion-cover (namat) that was beneath him. Sahl said to him: Why do you remove it? He said: Because it contains images, and the Prophet ﷺ said about it what you already know. Sahl said: Did he not say, "Except for what is a pattern (raqm) on a garment"? He said: Yes, but removing it is more pleasing to my soul. (1)

This is a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth.

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(1) A ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth by virtue of corroborating evidence; al-Nasāʾī recorded it in 8/212. It is in al-Musnad (15979) and Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (5851).

It was also recorded with similar wording by al-Bukhārī (3226) and (5958), Muslim (2106) (85), Abū Dāwūd (4155), and al-Nasāʾī 8/212–213 via the chain of Busr ibn Saʿīd, from Zayd ibn Khālid, from Abū Ṭalḥah, the companion of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, who said: The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: "Indeed, the angels do not enter a house in which there is an image." Busr said: Then Zayd fell ill, and we visited him, and there was a curtain at his door containing an image. So I said to ʿUbayd Allāh al-Khawlānī, the stepson of Maymūnah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ: Did Zayd not tell us about images on the earlier day? ʿUbayd Allāh said: Did you not hear him when he said, "Except for a pattern on a garment"? This is the wording of al-Bukhārī. It is also in Musnad Aḥmad (16345) and Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (5849).

His statement: "namat" — al-Sindī said in his gloss on al-Musnad: with two fatḥahs: a fine carpet with nap.

"raqm" — with a fatḥah then a sukūn: an embroidered pattern.

And his statement: "But it is more pleasing to my soul" — i.e., the removal. The ḥadīth indicates that there is no prohibition against the pattern.