I was with Ibn Abbas when a man came to him and said, "Abu Abbas, I am a man whose livelihood comes only from the work of my own hands, and I make these images."Ibn Abbas replied, "I will tell you only what I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say. He said, 'Whoever fashions an image, Allah will punish him until he breathes a soul into it, and he will never be able to breathe a soul into it.'"The man swelled up with distress and his face turned pale.Ibn Abbas said, "Woe to you! If you refuse to do anything but this craft, then stick to trees and anything that has no soul in it."
كنت عند ابن عباس-رضي الله عنهما- إذ أتاه رجل، فقال: يا أبا عباس، إني إنسان إنما معيشتي من صنعة يدي، وإني أصنع هذه التصاوير. فقال ابن عباس: لا أحدثك إلا ما سمعت من رسول الله ﷺ يقول: من صور صورة فإن الله معذبه حتى ينفخ فيها الروح، وليس بنافخ فيها أبدا. فربا الرجل ربوة شديدة، واصفر وجهه، فقال: ويحك! إن أبيت إلا أن تصنع فعليك بهذا الشجر، كل شيء ليس فيه روح.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Sales (2225), and Muslim in the Book of Clothing and Adornment (2110:99), through the route of Saeed bin Abu Hasan, with this wording. The wording given here is Bukhari's. The wording of the raised hadith according to Muslim is, "Every image-maker will be in the Fire, and for every image he made, a soul will be assigned to him, which will torment him in Hell."Muslim also narrated it through another route, from Saeed bin Abu Aruba, from Nadr bin Anas bin Malik, who said, I was sitting with Ibn Abbas, and he mentioned it with wording similar to Bukhari's.His statement, "the man swelled up," means he became bloated. It has also been said that it means he became terrified and filled with fear.