‘A’isha told that when the Prophet was ill some of his wives mentioned a church called Mariya. Umm Salama and Umm Habiba who had gone to Abyssinia mentioned its beauty and the statues it contained, whereupon he raised his head and said, "When a pious man among those people dies they build a place of worship over his grave, then make those statues in it. Those are the worst of God’s creatures.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)