“It shows that such activity is permissible inside the mosque.

Ibn al-Tīn cites Abū al-Ḥasan al-Lakhmī as saying that playing with spears in the mosque was later abrogated by the Qur’an and the Sunnah. As proof from the Qur’an he quoted the verse, ‘in houses which Allah has allowed to be exalted’ (24:36), and from the Sunnah the ḥadīth, ‘Keep your children and the insane away from your mosques.’ This was rebutted on four grounds: the ḥadīth is weak, neither the verse nor the ḥadīth states what al-Lakhmī claimed, and no chronological evidence exists to prove abrogation.

Some Mālikīs have reported that Mālik maintained the Abyssinians were outside the mosque while ʿĀʾishah was inside. This is not reliably traced to Mālik, for it contradicts the explicit wording found in the various transmissions of this report; in some of them ʿUmar objected to their playing in the mosque and the Prophet ﷺ answered him, ‘Leave them be.’ Besides, playing with spears is not idle amusement; it trains the brave for combat and prepares them for the enemy. Al-Mahlab said: ‘The mosque was established for matters that concern the Muslim community; therefore, any deed that benefits the religion and its people is permissible therein.’

This statement confines the permissible forms of play in the mosque to whatever brings a public benefit, and that, God willing, is the sound view.

Al-Ṣanʿānī, in Subul al-Salām, challenged this interpretation with the wording cited earlier—‘so that the Jews may know that our religion is spacious…’—and said:

‘This refutes al-Ṭabarī’s claim that a concession was granted to the Abyssinians which is not granted to others and therefore applies only to that incident; it likewise refutes those who say that playing with spears is not mere sport but a drill for warriors, bringing a communal benefit needed to uphold the religion and thus permitted in the mosque.’”