and the black dog.

Ibn Ḥazm said: “The prayer is nullified whenever a dog is in front of the worshipper—whether it merely stands there or walks past—just as it is nullified by the presence of a donkey in front of him, and by the presence of a woman in front of a man, whether she is young or old.”

Among those who adopted the view that the prayer is invalidated by these three is Shaykh al-Islām and his student Ibn al-Qayyim, who said: “It has been authentically established from the Prophet ﷺ that the prayer is broken by a woman, a donkey, and a jet-black dog. This is confirmed by the narrations of Abū Dharr, Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ʿAbbās, and ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal.”

The reports cited against this hadith fall into two categories: sound but not explicit, or explicit but not sound. Neither kind can outweigh a report of such strength.

The shaykh also stated: “It is the position of Aḥmad and a group of his companions that the prayer is broken by a woman, a donkey, and a jet-black dog; and the correct view is that the passage of a woman, a donkey, or a black dog indeed nullifies the prayer.” This was likewise chosen by the author of al-Mughnī.

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh ruled: “The prayer is invalidated by the passage of a woman, a donkey, or a jet-black dog, whether the worshipper is leading others or praying alone, and whether the prayer is obligatory or supererogatory—provided the passage occurs between him and his sutrah, if he has one, or within a distance of three forearm-lengths in front of his feet.”

The evidence for those who consider the prayer voided by the passage of these three is the very hadith now under discussion; it is a compelling proof that nothing can overturn.

Benefit: The passage of a woman does not break the prayer of another woman. This is explicit in the hadith of Abū Dharr: “It breaks the prayer of a Muslim man.” Thus the nullification is specific to men, which bolsters the rationale we previously mentioned for why a woman breaks a man’s prayer.

Al-Inṣāf states: “The apparent wording of the Ḥanbalī scholars indicates that a young girl who cannot yet be described as a ‘woman’ does not invalidate the prayer by passing in front of the worshipper,” and this is also what the reports suggest.