The story of the teacher in Sudan whose kindergarten students named a teddy bear “Muhammad” raised this question. The NY Times website says that Islam prohibits the worship of idols, and that apparently the teddy bear was considered an idol.
Then I thought about the film “Hideous Kinky” where the young English woman makes dolls (with yellow yarn for hair) and tries to sell them, and gets a bad reception from people. I thought at the time it was because they were blonde.
But now I am wondering, was it because they were “idols”? Do girls in Islamic societies have dolls? Are children allowed to have stuffed animals, regardless of the name?