The wisdom behind the prohibition of praying in the grazing grounds of camels
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
You mentioned, may Allah preserve you, that camel urine is pure. So what is the wisdom behind the prohibition of praying in the grazing grounds of camels?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter of pure worship (ta'abbudi). It is true that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited praying in the grazing grounds of camels, and we do not understand the reason (illah). Allah knows best. They said that camels are by nature reckless and are mixed with shayatin (devils), and therefore camel herders possess a certain harshness and roughness that distinguishes them from others. Because of this devilish nature, praying in their grazing grounds is prohibited. This is unlike sheep, which are calm and serene, so a dispensation (rukhsah) is granted for praying in the grazing grounds of sheep. Some said it is to prevent camels from coming to a person while he is praying and disturbing his prayer, because camels are dangerous. If he prays in their grazing grounds and they come to him while he is praying, they might kill him. Therefore, one avoids the places of camels. The correct view is that there is no apparent reason (illah) for this. Allah knows best.
The questioner:
We have concluded in...
The Shaykh:
Why? This is like asking why one purifies oneself from camel meat but does not purify oneself from sheep meat. It is exactly the same. The matter is one of pure worship (ta'abbudi). Yes.
You mentioned, may Allah preserve you, that camel urine is pure. So what is the wisdom behind the prohibition of praying in the grazing grounds of camels?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter of pure worship (ta'abbudi). It is true that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited praying in the grazing grounds of camels, and we do not understand the reason (illah). Allah knows best. They said that camels are by nature reckless and are mixed with shayatin (devils), and therefore camel herders possess a certain harshness and roughness that distinguishes them from others. Because of this devilish nature, praying in their grazing grounds is prohibited. This is unlike sheep, which are calm and serene, so a dispensation (rukhsah) is granted for praying in the grazing grounds of sheep. Some said it is to prevent camels from coming to a person while he is praying and disturbing his prayer, because camels are dangerous. If he prays in their grazing grounds and they come to him while he is praying, they might kill him. Therefore, one avoids the places of camels. The correct view is that there is no apparent reason (illah) for this. Allah knows best.
The questioner:
We have concluded in...
The Shaykh:
Why? This is like asking why one purifies oneself from camel meat but does not purify oneself from sheep meat. It is exactly the same. The matter is one of pure worship (ta'abbudi). Yes.
Source
شرح زاد المستقنع [8] — alfawzan.live (1:32:01)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.