owing to the skittish nature of camels: while a person is praying one of them may suddenly bolt, forcing him to break off the prayer, causing him harm, or at the very least disrupting his focus and distracting him from the humility required in worship. This is the rationale offered by the Shāfiʿī and Mālikī jurists. On that basis they distinguish between the camels’ actually being present in their pens and their being absent, for the danger of a stampede is removed when the animals are elsewhere. The soundness of this interpretation is indicated by the ḥadith of Ibn Mughaffal, recorded by Aḥmad with an authentic chain: “Do not pray in camel pens, for they were created from the jinn. Do you not see their eyes and their outward appearance when they are startled?”

I would object, however, that the Prophet ﷺ used to pray facing a camel, as will be shown in its proper place, God willing. This demonstrates that the prohibition cannot rest on the possibility of the animals’ bolting, since that possibility is also present in the scenario that is unanimously deemed permissible. I am therefore inclined to the view that the prohibition pertains specifically to the designated place itself—the watering-pen or the resting-ground—whether or not camels are actually there at the time of prayer. Ibn Ḥazm’s words point in the same direction; he said:

“It is absolutely impermissible to perform the prayer in any spot set aside for the kneeling of a single camel or more, or in any place adopted as a pen for even one camel or more, whereas praying toward a camel is permissible. Consequently, if the camels no longer return to that location so that it ceases to be called a pen, the prayer is valid there.”

The ḥadith, then, does not support the distinction toward which al-Shawkānī inclined. Allah knows best.

Al-Shawkānī subsequently mentioned additional opinions regarding the underlying cause, but all of them are weak and lack proof; he then said: