1921 — “The image is the head; when the head is cut off, there is no longer an image.”

Al-Suyūṭī attributed it in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr to al-Ismāʿīlī in his Muʿjam. Al-Manāwī left it without comment and said nothing regarding its chain of transmission. I came across its chain, written by one of the hadith scholars on the verso of the first folio of the eleventh volume of al-ʿUqaylī’s al-Ḍuʿafāʾ. It was recorded through both ʿAdī ibn al-Faḍl and Ibn ʿUlayyah, from Ayyūb, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said this as a Prophetic report. It was also narrated through ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, from Ayyūb, as a statement stopping at Ibn ʿAbbās.

I say: Ibn ʿUlayyah—whose name was Ismāʿīl—had a better memory than ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, who was Ibn ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Thaqafī. Thus, his version attributing it to the Prophet is more preponderant, especially since ʿAdī ibn al-Faḍl, despite his weakness, narrated it alongside him. Therefore, if the chain leading to the two of them is sound, then the chain is authentic. However, the writer mentioned above did not provide it.

It is supported, however, by the Prophet’s statement in the hadith of Abū Hurayrah: “Gabriel came to me …” The hadith includes: “Order that the head of the statue in the house be cut off, so that it becomes like a tree …” This explicitly establishes that cutting off the head of an image—that is, a three-dimensional statue—renders it no longer an image.

I say: This applies to a three-dimensional statue, as we have said. As for an image printed on paper or embroidered on cloth, merely drawing a line across the neck, so that it appears to be severed from the body, is not sufficient. Rather, the head itself must be removed. In this way, the image’s features are altered, and it becomes, as he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “like a tree.” Bear this in mind, and do not be misled by what is found in certain books of fiqh, or by later scholars who have taken them as a basis. See Ādāb al-Zifāf (pp. 103–104, third edition).

1922 — “Fasting in winter is the cool spoil.”

It was narrated by Aḥmad (4/335), Abū ʿUbayd in al-Gharīb (95/2), al-Sarī ibn Yaḥyā in Ḥadīth al-Thawrī (204/1), Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in al-Tahajjud (2/60/2), and Abū al-ʿAbbās