However when we read the full sharh, Ibn Hajar does not believe with certainty that Aisha’s playing with dolls was because she was a young girl. His words show hesitation towards this claim.
He quotes al-Khattabi, saying that the hadith shows dolls were permitted for Aisha because she was not yet mature.
Ibn Hajar then comments, “To be certain of this is questionable.”
His statement here is decisive.
It means that the claim cannot be taken as an established fact.
He then supports this by giving historical evidence about Aisha’s age. He says that during the Battle of Khaybar she was around fourteen years old, possibly already mature, and during the Battle of Tabuk she had definitely reached puberty.
Since the hadith’s event is linked to one of these two battles, this shows that Aisha was not a child at the time.
Ibn Hajar argues that the stronger likelihood is that the incident occurred at Khaybar when she was nearly or already mature, and even if it were at Tabuk, she was certainly an adult.
However, he does not completely dismiss al-Khattabi’s interpretation.
He ends by saying that if both narrations are to be accepted together, then reconciling them according to al-Khattabi’s view is better than claiming contradiction.
Those who think this proves she was a child should know that this last statement is not part of the hadith itself. It comes from Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani’s commentary. This is important to remember because the hadith itself does not include those words.
Ibn Hajar’s words make clear several matters that differ from what some may assume at first glance. The foremost point is that he acknowledges Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was about fourteen years old when this incident took place.
At such an age, girls in that region and era would normally have reached puberty.
This is why he himself regarded certainty in her being a child as doubtful. Still, he leaned toward the possibility that she had not yet reached puberty, not because of any proof regarding her state, but only as a way to reconcile what appears in the report with the ruling that forbids adults from playing with dolls.
However this view of Ibn Hajar that adults could not play with dolls was countered by what Al Bayhaqi said. He says that the hadith of Aisha occurred before the Prophet’s prohibition of images. So her playing with dolls was not allowed because she was young. But because at that time the ruling had not yet been revealed. Once the prohibition was established, that earlier allowance ceased.
Clarification on the Prohibition of Images and Representations (بيان النهي عن التصاوير والتماثيل)
Al Bayhaqi said: It has been firmly established from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, through many chains, that he forbade the making of images and representations. It is therefore possible that what is preserved in the narration of Abu Salamah from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, about his return from the expedition of Khaybar, occurred before the prohibition of making images and representations, and that their prohibition came after that.
Among those who transmitted the prohibition from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was Abu Hurayrah, and he embraced Islam at the time of Khaybar, which means that his hearing of this ruling came after that event.
In the hadith of Jabir, it is mentioned that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered Umar ibn al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, at the time of the Conquest while he was in al Batha, to go to the Kaaba and erase every image that was inside it.
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not enter the Kaaba until every image in it had been completely removed.
When it comes to playing with toys and similar objects from past societies and cultures, anthropologist Laurie Wilkie says:
Highly valued toys and childhood objects can be curated well into adulthood and passed on to subsequent generations of children; therefore, artefacts found in the archaeological record may not adequately reflect the full range of material culture used and cherished by the users. (Laurie Wilkie, “Not Merely Child’s Play: Creating a Historical Archaeology of Children and Childhood,” in Children and Material Culture, Ed. Joanna Sofaer Derevenski (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 102.)
Explanation of the Hadith on Aisha’s Dolls and Its Ruling (بيان حديث لعب عائشة وحكمه)
Ibn Hajar says: Al-Nasa’i also titled it (8/179): “Permissibility for a man to allow his wife to play with dolls.”
He did not restrict it to being for young girls, and this is open to discussion.
Al-Bayhaqi, after narrating the hadith (10/219–220), said: “The prohibition of making images is firmly established, so this allowance for Aisha must have been before the prohibition.” Ibn al-Jawzi affirmed this view. Al-Mundhiri said: “If the dolls were in the form of images, then it was before the prohibition. If not, then something that is not in the form of an image may still be called a doll.” Al-Halimi agreed with this interpretation and said:
“If it is an image resembling an idol, then it is not permissible, but if it is not, then it is permissible.”
Some said that the meaning of the hadith is “playing with the girls,” meaning the female servants or companions, and that the preposition bi (with) in the hadith means “along with.” Ibn al-Tin transmitted this interpretation from al-Dawudi and rejected it.
Ibn hajar said: This interpretation is refuted by what Ibn Uyaynah narrated in his Jami‘ from Sa‘id ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Makhzumi, from Hisham ibn Urwah regarding this hadith, that Aisha said: “Girls would come to me and play with me using them.”
In another narration from Jarir on the authority of Hisham: “I used to play with the dolls, and they were the dolls.” This was narrated by Abu Awana (4270) and others.
Abu Dawud (4932) and al-Nasa’i (Book 8900) narrated from another chain from Aisha, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, returned from the expedition of Tabuk or Khaybar.” Then she mentioned the hadith about the Prophet uncovering the curtain she had hung at her door.
She said: “He uncovered part of the curtain, and there were dolls belonging to Aisha underneath it. He said: ‘What is this, O Aisha?’
She said: ‘My daughters.’ He saw among them a horse tied up with two wings and said: ‘What is this?’ I said: ‘A horse.’
He said: ‘A horse with two wings?’ I said: ‘Have you not heard that Sulayman (Solomon) had horses with wings?’ So he laughed.”
This clearly shows that the dolls mentioned were not representations of humans.
Al-Khattabi said: “This hadith shows that playing with dolls is not like amusement with other images for which a warning has been reported. Rather, it was permitted for Aisha because she was not yet of age at that time.”
Ibn hajar said: To be certain of this is questionable, because Aisha was fourteen years old at the time of the Battle of Khaybar. She might have completed that age, exceeded it slightly, or just reached it.
But at the time of the expedition of Tabuk, she had definitely reached puberty.
Therefore, the narration that places this incident at Khaybar is more likely.
Reconciliation between the reports can be made according to what al-Khattabi said, for that is preferable to assuming contradiction.
Fath Al Bari (18/524-525)
