except graveyards and bathhouses.” It has also been reported from him that “the bathhouse is Satan’s abode.” It is reliably established that when he departed from the place where they had slept through the dawn prayer, he said, “This is a place where Satan was present with us.”

The Prophet—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—thus attributed the rulings concerning such places to evil spirits, just as he attributed them to impure physical substances. This is the view of Ahmad and other hadith jurists. The position clearly established from him is that, in any place that serves as an abode for devils—such as camel enclosures and bathhouses—it is forbidden