On the authority of Thābit ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk: A man vowed to slaughter some camels at Bawāna, so he asked the Prophet ﷺ about it. The Prophet said, “Did the place contain an idol from the idols of the pre-Islamic era that was worshipped?” They replied, “No.” He asked, “Was any of their festivals ever held there?” They said, “No.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said, “Fulfil your vow, for there is no fulfilment of a vow that entails disobedience to Allah, nor of one concerning something the son of Adam does not own.” (1) Narrated by Abū Dāwūd, and its chain meets the criteria of both al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

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Thābit ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk: Thābit ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Khalīfa ibn Thaʿlaba ibn ʿAdī al-Ashhalī al-Khazrajī al-Anṣārī, a well-known Companion who died in 64 AH.

Nadhr (vow): Linguistically, an obligation; in the legal sense, it is a person’s binding himself to perform an act of worship that was not previously incumbent upon him.

Bawāna: A plateau located beyond Yanbuʿ.

Wathan (idol): Anything worshipped besides Allah, whether a grave or otherwise.

ʿĪd (festival): A recurring gathering held in a habitual manner.

“Meets their criteria”: i.e. it fulfils the conditions set by al-Bukhārī and Muslim—an uninterrupted chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free from irregularity or hidden flaws.

Overall meaning of the hadith: The narrator relates that a man committed himself to slaughter camels in a particular spot as an act of devotion and drawing near to Allah. He came to ask the Prophet ﷺ about carrying it out, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ asked about that place—whether it had ever been associated