“Do not pray in the camels’ resting places, for they are from the devils.”

He was then asked about praying in sheepfolds, and he replied,

“Pray in them, for they are a source of blessing.”

Abū Dāwūd, al-Bayhaqī, and Aḥmad all recorded this through the route of Abū Muʿāwiyah, who said: “Al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from ʿAbdullāh, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, from him.”

This chain is sound; its transmitters are those relied upon by the two Shaykhs except for ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbdullāh, and he is trustworthy. Others have transmitted the report in abridged form, as noted a little earlier.

(al-maʿāṭin) is the plural of maʿṭan, with a fatḥah on the mīm and a kasrah on the ṭāʾ, while (al-aʿṭān) is the plural of ʿaṭn, with a fatḥah on both the ʿayn and the ṭāʾ. Al-Azhari said:

“The ʿaṭn is the place to which the camels withdraw after drinking their first draught; they kneel there, then the trough is refilled for them a second time, whereupon they return from their ʿaṭn to the trough to quench their thirst with the second draught, called al-ʿill. Camels do not make an ʿaṭn away from the water except during the height of summer heat (ḥamāratu l-qayẓ, with a lightened mīm and a doubled rāʾ). The site where they are kept by the water is called ʿaṭn or maʿṭan.”

Al-Nawawī relayed this in al-Majmūʿ.

Thus the maʿṭan is a specific spot where the camel kneels, whereas the mabrak is more general. Ibn Ḥazm said: