Likewise, he forbade prayer in camel enclosures and said:

“They are jinn, created from jinn.”

It is also authentically reported that he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:

“The whole earth is a place of prayer, except graveyards and bathhouses.”

It has also been reported from him that “the bathhouse is the house of Satan.” And it is authentically reported 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 among us.”

Thus, he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) explained the rulings concerning these places by the presence of evil spirits, just as such rulings may be explained by the presence of impure physical substances. Ahmad and other jurists of the hadith tradition hold this view. His apparent position is that prayer is forbidden in places that serve as a refuge for devils, such as camel enclosures and bathhouses, whereas prayer is disliked in places where Satan was only temporarily present, such as the place where they slept through the prayer.

The jurists who did not forbid this either had not received these texts through transmission sufficient to establish their authenticity, or had received them but did not understand the underlying reason. They therefore considered such rulings far removed from analogical reasoning and gave the texts an alternative interpretation.

As for anyone who attributes positions contrary to these rulings to the Rightly Guided Caliphs or the majority of the Companions, claiming that they did not perform ablution after eating camel meat, he has wrongly attributed this to them. He only supposed this because it was reported that “they did not perform ablution after eating food touched by fire.” All that is meant is that, in their view, eating food touched by fire was not a reason for the obligation of