Hadith Shubuhat Refuted

Did The Prophet Have Statues In His House? (Sunan Abi Dawud 4158)

By ISHAQ. K

Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Gabriel (ﷺ) came to me and said: I came to you last night and was prevented from entering simply because there were images at the door, for there was a decorated curtain with images on it in the house, and there was a dog in the house.

So order the head of the image which is in the house to be cut off (فَمُرْ بِرَأْسِ التِّمْثَالِ الَّذِي فِي الْبَيْتِ يُقْطَعُ) so that it resembles the form of a tree; order the curtain to be cut up and made into two cushions spread out on which people may tread; and order the dog to be turned out.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then did so. The dog belonged to al-Hasan or al-Husayn and was under their couch. So he ordered it to be turned out.

Abu Dawud said: Al-Nadd means a thing on which clothes are placed like a couch. (Sunan Abi Dawud 4158)

Albani refutes this argument and says: Nothing stopped him from entering except that there were timathil (statues) at the door. In the house there was a qiram satar (thin cloth curtain) that had timathil (images) on it. Pay attention to the words. Jibril said that nothing stopped him from entering except that there were timathil at the door.

People today may think from the word timathil that it means asnam (idols), but it is not like that. The proof is in his later words that in the house there was a cloth with timathil. A cloth with images does not mean idols. What is meant are the forms of those images that were on the door or the images that were on the curtain.

The words and in the house there was a dog are also from the complete words of Jibril peace be upon him. He said this to the Messenger peace and blessings be upon him to explain the reason for his delay in coming at the time that he had set for the Messenger peace and blessings be upon him.

Jibril peace be upon him said that in the house there was a dog, so command that the head of the timthal (statue) that is in the house be cut so that it becomes like the shape of a tree. Jibril said command that the cloth be cut so that two cushions are made from it which are placed down and stepped on. Command also that the dog be taken out. This was narrated by Abu Dawud, At Tirmidhi, An Nasaai, and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih. At Tirmidhi said it is a good and sound hadith.

Other hadiths of this kind also appear regarding keeping a dog, if Allah wills, in the section of encouraging or discouraging keeping a dog. There also come hadiths in it that forbid tasweer (image making).

Kitab Durus lil Shaykh al Albani (21/11)

Author

ISHAQ. K

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