at idols as well as at the sites where the unbelievers celebrate their festivals.
Additional evidence for this ruling is the report related by Abū Dāwūd in his Sunan: Hārūn ibn ʿAbd Allāh told us; Ḥammād ibn Masʿadah told us; from ʿAwf; from Abū Rayḥānah; from Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with them both—who said:
“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade the Bedouin practice of muʿāqarah.”
Abū Dāwūd adds: Ghundar transmitted it only as a statement of Ibn ʿAbbās.
Abū Bakr Ibn Abī Shaybah likewise records in his Tafsīr: Wakiʿ narrated to us, from his companions, from ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, from Abū Rayḥānah, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās was asked about the Bedouins’ muʿāqarah among themselves, and he replied:
“I fear it may be among those offerings over which a name other than Allah’s has been pronounced.”
(1) Harun ibn Abd Allah ibn Marwan al-Baghdadi, Abu Musa—known as al-Hammal al-Bazzaz—was a trustworthy transmitter from the tenth generation. The six canonical collectors narrated from him except al-Bukhari. He died in 243 AH at nearly eighty years of age. See: Taqrib al-Tahdhib 2/312, no. 18.
(2) Hammad ibn Masadah al-Tamimi al-Basri, Abu Said, a reliable narrator of the ninth generation; all six canonical books include his reports. He died in 202 AH. See: Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1/197, no. 548.
(3) Awf ibn Abi Jamila. His biography has already been cited; see the Index of Names.
(4) Abd Allah ibn Matar al-Basri—some say his name was Ziyad—Abu Rayhana, was deemed reliable, though his memory declined at the end of his life. A third-generation narrator, his hadiths appear in Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. See: Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1/451, no. 642.
(5) Manuscript Ṭ mistakenly reads al-ashab; this is a copyist’s corruption.
(6) See Sunan Abi Dawud, Book of Sacrificial Animals, chapter “On eating the slaughter of the Bedouin contest,” hadith no. 2820 (3/246). Muʿaqarat al-aʿrab refers to two men competing and boasting by slaughtering camels, each seeking to outdo the other; whoever slaughters the greater number is judged the victor. See al-Khattabi’s Maʿalim al-Sunan on the margin of Abi Dawud (3/246).
(7) Awf ibn Abi Jamila; his biography is cited above—see the Index of Names.
(8) I have not located Ibn Abi Shaybah’s Tafsir.