The correct view is that a matter commanded in absolute terms does not, for that reason alone, become a prerequisite for the soundness of some other commanded act—even if the two coincide—unless a separate proof establishes such a link. Likewise, something absolutely forbidden does not automatically become a cause of invalidity for another act unless there is an independent text to that effect.
[Chapter Six: Places in Which Prayer Is Not Performed]
Chapter Six – As for the places where prayer may be offered, some scholars allow it in every spot that is free of impurity. Others excluded seven locations:
• the refuse-heap,
• the slaughterhouse,
• the graveyard,
• the middle of the roadway,
• the public bath,
• camel pens,
• and the roof of the House of Allah (the Kaʿbah).
Some excluded only the graveyard; some excluded the graveyard and the bathhouse. Others merely disliked praying in these proscribed places without declaring the prayer invalid; this is one of the reports transmitted from Mālik. Another report from him—related by Ibn al-Qāsim—permits it outright.
The reason for their disagreement is the apparent conflict among the prophetic reports on this matter. In this chapter there are two ḥadīths whose authenticity is agreed upon and two whose authenticity is disputed.
The two unanimously accepted are the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—words:
“I was given five things no one before me was given … the earth has been made for me a place of prostration and a means of purification, so wherever the time of prayer overtakes me, I pray,”
and his saying—peace be upon him:
“Offer some of your prayers in your homes and do not turn them into graveyards.”
As for the two disputed reports, the first is the narration that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—forbade praying in seven places: “the refuse-heap, the slaughterhouse, the graveyard, the middle of the road, the bathhouse, camel pens, and the roof of the House of Allah”; it was recorded by al-Tirmidhī.
The second is his—peace be upon him—statement: “Pray in sheepfolds and do not pray in camel enclosures.”
The scholars adopted three approaches to these ḥadīths:
- the method of preference (tarjīḥ) and abrogation (naskh);
- the method of qualification, that is, construing the specific text as limiting the general;
- the method of harmonization (jamʿ).
Those who followed the path of preference and abrogation upheld the well-known ḥadīth, namely the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—saying: “The earth has been made