—all of that is impure; therefore, prayer is forbidden there.

(e) The rubbish heap: the site where sweepings, refuse, garbage, off-cuts, and dung are dumped; prayer in such a place is prohibited.

(f) The public thoroughfare: namely, the main road and its sidewalks. The well-known view in our school is that prayer there is disallowed, because of this ḥadith and the constant passing of people, which distracts the heart.
Another report, however, judges the prayer valid, and that is the position of the majority of scholars, including the three imams—Abu Ḥanīfah, Mālik, and al-Shāfiʿī—so the place remains under its original ruling of permissibility.

(g) On top of the Kaʿbah: according to this ḥadith, prayer there is impermissible, and that is the prevailing view within the school. The second opinion permits praying on its roof, whether the prayer is obligatory or supererogatory, and this is the stance of the majority of scholars.

Al-Muwaffaq said: “The correct view is that prayer there is permissible, owing to the general wording, ‘The earth has been made for me a place of prayer and a means of purification.’ ”

Scholarly disagreement:
The well-known position of Imām Aḥmad and those who follow him is to prohibit prayer in the seven sites; this is one of the matters in which the Ḥanbalīs stand alone, and their proof is the ḥadith under discussion, which is not a decisive authority.

The three imams, by contrast, hold that prayer is valid in all of them except the cemetery, camel resting-grounds, and the privy.

The majority’s evidence for the purity of these places and the permissibility of praying in them is the general statement of the Prophet ﷺ: “The earth has been made for me a place of prayer and a means of purification,” while authentic reports exclude from that ruling the cemetery, the bathhouse, and camel resting-grounds.

Al-Muwaffaq concluded: “The correct view is that prayer in them is permissible,” and this is the position adopted by most scholars.