ablution. The ablution that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prescribed after eating camel meat is not required because the meat has been touched by fire. It is like saying, “So-and-so did not perform ablution on account of touching his penis,” even though he did perform ablution when pre-seminal fluid was discharged from it.

A further point completes this discussion. It is authentically reported from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in Sahīh Muslim and elsewhere, through the narrations of Abū Dharr and Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with them both), and also through narrations from others, that:

“A black dog, a woman, and a donkey cut off the prayer.”

The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) distinguished the black dog from red and white dogs by explaining that:

“The black dog is a devil.”

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

“Satan rushed at me last night to cut off my prayer. I seized him and wanted to tie him to one of the pillars of the mosque.”

The hadith continues. He thus stated that Satan intended to cut off his prayer. This likewise implies that a devil’s passing in front of someone invalidates the prayer. Accordingly, Ahmad adopted this ruling concerning the black dog, while differing positions are reported from him concerning the woman and the donkey. This is because this hadith was opposed by the hadith of ʿĀ’isha, describing how the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prayed while she was in front of him in the direction of prayer, and by the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both), describing how he rode his she-donkey in front of part of a row while the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was leading his Companions in prayer at Minā.

Nevertheless, the stronger view is that all three invalidate the prayer, and that a distinction should be drawn between passing in front of someone and remaining there. A similar distinction is made concerning a man: his passing in front of someone praying is disliked, unlike his remaining in the direction of prayer when the worshipper is behind him and the man is not conversing