# Doesn't the hadith about Aisha playing with dolls show she was a child?

*Does the report of Aisha playing with dolls show she was a child*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/0ovisexs4ca/s/14/
- Date: 2017-01-11 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Age of Aisha (ra)- Mufti Abu Layth (1:38:13–1:42:08)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oVIsExS4cA&t=5893s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/0ovisexs4ca/

**Topics:** The life of the Prophet; Individual hadith explained

**Question as asked:** Some reports suggest Aisha used to play with dolls; does this not indicate that she was quite young?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The word 'play' is also used of adults, and the detailed figures described in the report read as figurines rather than a child's toys. The report does not show Aisha was a child.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that the dolls report does not show Aisha was a child, since 'play' applies to adults and the objects described read as figurines.

**Evidence, his words at 1:41:13:** “the Hadith does not mean she was a child yes it does use the word play but play could be interpreted for adults as well” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oVIsExS4cA&t=6073s)

## Longer summary

The segment opens with the end of the previous answer. Mufti Abu Layth then says the dolls report in Sahih al-Bukhari and other narrations comes down to language and interpretation: 'play' is used of adults playing video games or mucking about as well as of children. He says the objects could equally be read as detailed figurines, since in the Bukhari report the Prophet recognises a structure with a wall, a tree and a horse with wings, asks whether horses have wings and laughs, which shows the figures were well defined. He compares grown men who collect and lay out toy soldiers as a hobby, and says that in his understanding these were figurines and that the word 'play' does not require infantilising the person.

## Sources and names cited

- Sahih al-Bukhari
- report: aisha playing with dolls the horse with two wings

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:38:13–1:42:08)

[1:38:07] history so we are in an that is undeniable I'm not saying it's perfect I'm not saying it's it's wholesome I'm saying but it is more uh positive and more preserved the rights for all of these things for people for the sick for the disabled for uh you know for all sorts for minorities for animals for pets for the environment for plants for trees then has ever occurred on a societal level throughout human history so if you're telling me well okay human beings seem to be working towards a trajectory now this trajectory will work towards okay eliminating

[1:38:45] consent and eliminating and the advocacy of harm then firstly I don't believe they will and secondly I don't Advocate that and I do not accept that harm is acceptable and I do not accept that that it's okay to occasional inflict harm like that and and if you're going to tell me some people in the future may well I feel that they have wrong if they will so that's my

[1:39:17] understanding right that's a good question there is a Hadith in bukari and few other narrations this comes down to language and interpretation okay uh the term play language ties in with our social understanding even today if you're going to use the term play this can be used like playing video games adults play video games it can be used to say for example somebody's mucking about they're just playing around it can be used as a child somebody's playing I mean but when we look at these narrations

[1:39:55] of with these kind of uh what could be I mean you could try to sway it towards saying these uh uh Duma these kind of little Idols or whatever that she had these little dolls you could you could say Well they're dolls and therefore she's playing with them therefore it's childlike she's a child it could be interpreted I mean it could be understood equally from the actual text as as as figurines because they're very detailed they're not like uh in fact the Hadith in bukari says the prophet sallallahu Ali wasallam comes in and he can and he sees a structure and there's a wall and there's a tree and and

[1:40:34] there's a horse and it has wings and if it was just a kind of stub with something coming out it could have been any it could have been a cow it could have been a lion it could have been a blob with some wings coming out for the prophet to immediately recognize it as well defined as a horse not a mule not a donkey Mony not oh a horse and he says oh does a horse even have wings and he laughs at that the structure was clearly well defined these were clearly in my understanding figurines and and yes you know AA was preoccupying part of her time you know her friends and and they had and you

[1:41:13] even get today you get adults um you get several adults sometimes preoccupied even obsessed with these kind of soldier figurines and they have like uh sets and and you know countless kind of soldier toy soldiers and they collect them and they set them up and and and these are grown men and and they lay them out and that doesn't mean that they're children but it just means that yes you know they take that as a hobby that's their hobby so I believe that's how you superimpose a context Upon A Hadith the Hadith does not mean she was a child yes it does use the word play but play could be interpreted for adults as well it doesn't not mean that we have to

[1:41:52] infantilize the person that is playing adults do you know they have hobbies where they play as well right I think that's definitely a good question that does this mean because from what I've demonstrated that there's this whole tradition of rejecting that allows to reject Hadith whilst upholding the Sunnah now do I believe common people can do that well first of all there is an understanding here that that is rejected in light of the greater narrative that

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 0oVIsExS4cA/s/14. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/0ovisexs4ca/s/14/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.