Ibn Majah

Benefits and Issues:
➊ It is permissible for girls to play with dolls.

➋ Children should be given the opportunity to play permissible games.

Hadith Commentary:
From this very hadith, it has been unanimously permitted for children to play with dolls, and dolls have been excluded from those images whose making is prohibited.

Hadith Commentary:
There are two parts to the chapter heading established by Imam Bukhari rahimahullah:
The first is to meet people with a cheerful face, and the second is to display good humor with one’s family.
This hadith discusses displaying good humor with one’s family.
This is further clarified by another hadith, in which Aisha radi Allahu anha narrates:
When the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam returned home from the expedition of Tabuk or Khaybar, there was a curtain hanging in front of my niche.
A breeze blew and lifted one side of the curtain.
At that moment, my toys and dolls became visible.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asked:
“Aisha! What is this?” I replied:
“These are my dolls.”
He also saw a horse made of cloth among them, which had two wings.
He asked:
“What is this that I see among them?” I replied:
“This is a horse.”
He asked:
“What is on it?” I replied:
“It has two wings.”
He said:
“Do horses also have wings?” Aisha radi Allahu anha said:
“Have you not heard that the horse of Sulayman alayhis salam had wings?” The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam laughed so much at this answer that I saw his molar teeth.
(Sunan Abi Dawud, Al-Adab, Hadith: 4932)
This is one example of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam displaying good humor with his family.
There are dozens of such examples in the books of hadith.
Note:
Not only is it permissible for boys and girls to play with dolls, but it is their natural right; however, it is necessary that their amusements are not contrary to the spirit of the Shariah.
If girls make dolls and figurines by hand themselves, it is permissible; however, it should be kept in mind that in the present era, the advanced and modern forms of these toys—those made of plastic and other materials that are exact replicas—our inclination is that these are not permissible.
The tragedy is that these are displayed prominently in homes as decoration, for which there is no legal (shar‘i) permission.
Wallahu al-musta‘an (And Allah is the One whose help is sought).

Hadith Commentary:
Vocabulary of the Hadith:
(1)
yanqami‘na:
They would hide inside the house.
(2)
yusribuhunna:
You would send them, saying, "Go and play."
Benefits and Issues:
It is understood from this hadith that it is permissible for young girls to play with dolls, and it is evident that the dolls which girls make themselves are merely crude imitations, which cannot be called images (tasweer). Yes, they are a kind of pictorial outline, but for this reason, it is not correct to draw an analogy between these and the dolls manufactured in factories with great skill and technique, because those are exact imitations, i.e., replicas that match the original, and people keep them in their homes for adornment and decoration. Therefore, such dolls cannot be declared permissible.

(1) Due to climatic conditions and her own physical maturity, she had reached puberty at the age of nine; therefore, there is no objection regarding the consummation. (For details, see: Ahadith 3357 to 3360)

(2) [وَكُنْتُ أَلْعَبُ بِالْبَنَاتِ] Some translators have rendered this as: "I used to play among the girls," whereas the preferred meaning of these words is what we have stated, that is, "she used to play with dolls." In one narration of Sahih Muslim, this meaning is explicitly mentioned. See: (Sahih Muslim, Fada'il al-Sahabah, Hadith: 2440)

Benefit:
This hadith proves that a child may play with dolls made of clay or cloth.