Question:

Do children’s toys that look like the living, such as bears and dolls prevent the angels from entering the home?

Answer:

باسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وأصحبه ومن والاه

Baarakallahu feekum for your question,

There is no issue in having your children play with these toys and these toys do not prevent the angels from entering your home. This is based on the hadeeth of Aisha (ra) in Saheeh alBukhaariy in which she says:

“I used to play with dolls in the house of the Prophet ﷺ. I had friends who used to play with me. When the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ came  in, they would hide themselves, then he would call them to join me and play with me.”

Our beloved Messenger ﷺ never refrained from teaching us that which is better for us and had these dolls prevented the angels from entering our homes; he ﷺ would not have joined in the play.

Based on this, our scholars (ra) have deduced this permissibility.

I would advise you though to take extra precaution ensuring that these toys do not play musical sounds so as not to desensitise your child to a matter that Islam does not promote.

Some scholars have also cited the plastic dolls that have striking human features as a grey area in the discussion of images and children, and based on this I would further advise you to stick to ‘stuffed’ products instead.

May Allah bless me and my family, you and your family, and the families of the Ummah. Ameen.

And Allah knows best.

Your brother

Sajid Umar
www.sajidumar.com