and he concluded the marriage contract with her.
She said, “Then I went to Sawdah, whose father was a very old man …,” and she related the remainder of the report. (1)
Hisham narrated—from his father, from ʿĀʾishah—who said:
“I was brought in to the Prophet of Allah when I was nine years old. Some women came to me while I was playing on a swing, my hair hanging loose. They prepared me and adorned me, then brought me to him. (2)”
Hisham also transmitted—from his father, from her—that she said:
“I used to play with dolls—meaning: toy figures. My playmates would come, and when they saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ they would hide themselves (4). When the Messenger of Allah left, they would come in to me, and he would send them in (5) so that they could play with me.
In another wording: They were young girls who would come and play with me with them; but when they saw the Messenger of Allah they would withdraw, so he would usher them back in to me. (6)”
ʿĀʾishah also said:
“The Messenger of Allah came in to me while I was playing with dolls (7), and he said:”
(1) Its chain of transmission is hasan (reliable), as Ibn Hajar states in Fath al-Bari, 7/176. Al-Haythami cites it in Majmaʿ al-zawaʾid, 9/225, noting: “It is narrated by al-Tabarani; its transmitters are the men of the two Sahihs except Muhammad b. ʿAmr b. ʿAlqama, and he is a sound narrator.” See also Musnad Ahmad, 6/210–211, and Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat, 8/57.
(2) Related by Abu Dawud (4933, 4935) with an authentic chain; it has just been mentioned above.
(3) In the printed edition the word has been corrupted to “shatta” (various).
(4) In another version recorded by al-Bukhari the wording is fa-yataqammaʿna, meaning “they would shrink away from him and retreat behind the curtain.”
(5) That is, he would send them off.
(6) Reported by al-Bukhari, 10/437, Book of Manners, Chapter: Sociability with People; Muslim (2440), Merits of the Companions, Chapter: The Virtue of ʿAʾisha; Ahmad 6/234; Ibn Saʿd 8/61; and Humaydi in his Musnad (260). On the basis of this hadith the scholars permitted the making of girl-shaped dolls for young girls to play with, viewing it as an exception to the general ban on images. Qadi ʿIyad affirmed this and transmitted it as the majority opinion, adding that they even allowed the sale of such toys.
(7) I.e., the dolls.