Does Eating Camel Meat Break Your Wudu?

The correct view is that the one who eats the meat of a camel, old or young, male or female, cooked or raw has to do Wudu. There are several reports which serve as evidence for this:

1. The Hadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked, Should I do Wudu after eating camel meat? He said, Yes. The person said: Should I do Wudu after eating mutton? He said, If you wish. (Narrated by Muslim, 360)
2. The Hadith of Al-Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked about eating camel meat. He said, Do Wudu after eating it. He was asked about mutton, and he said, Do not do Wudu. (Narrated by Abu Dawud, 184 and At-Tirmidhi, 81. Classed as authentic by Imam Ahmad and Is-haq ibn Rahawayh).

The view of those who do not regard it as obligatory to do Wudu after eating camel meat is based on several points, such as:

1- This ruling is abrogated. Their evidence is the Hadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him); the last of the two commands from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was that there was no need to do Wudu after eating food that had been touched by fire. (Narrated by Abu Dawud, 192 and An-Nasai, 185)

But this does not refute the specific meaning of the Hadith quoted above from Sahih Muslim.

Moreover, there is no evidence here of anything being abrogated, because they asked whether they should do Wudu after eating mutton, and he said, If you wish.

If this Hadith were abrogated, the ruling on mutton would also be abrogated. The fact that he said, If you wish indicates that these Hadiths came after the Hadith of Jabir.

In cases of abrogation, there must be evidence that what is being abrogated came first chronologically, and there is no such evidence here.

Moreover, the Hadith of abrogation is general in meaning, but this Hadith (about camel meat) is more specific, and thus excludes (camel meat) from the general ruling.

The fact that he also asked about mutton makes it clear that the issue here is not whether the meat has been touched by fire; if that were the case then camel meat and mutton would be regarded in the same way.

2- They also take their evidence from the Hadith, Wudu has to do with what comes out, not what goes in.

In response, we would like to state that this Hadith was narrated and classed as inauthentic by Al-Bayhaqi (1/116) and Ad-Daraqutni (p. 55). It is an inauthentic Hadith with three faults; for more information see As-Silsilah Ad-Da`ifah (959)

Even if it were authentic for the sake of argument it is general in meaning, and the Hadith which says that Wudu is obligatory (after eating camel meat) is specific.

3- Some of them said that what is meant by the phrase do Wudu [perform ablution] after eating it is to wash the hands and mouth, because camel meat has an unpleasant odour and is very greasy, unlike mutton!

In response, we would say that this is unlikely, because the apparent meaning here is Wudu as prescribed in Shari`ah, not ablutions in a linguistic sense (i.e., merely washing one’s hands and mouth). It is obligatory to interpret the terminology of Shari`ah in accordance with the meanings of Shari`ah.

4- Some of them take as evidence a story that has no basis; the story in question may be summed up as follows:

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was addressing the people one day, and one of them emitted an odour (i.e., passed wind), but he felt too shy to get up from among the people. He had also eaten camel meat, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, covering for him, Whoever has eaten camel meat, let him do Wudu. So a group of people who had eaten camel meat got up and went and did Wudu.

In response, Shaykh Al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“This story has no basis anywhere in the books of Sunnah or elsewhere in the books of Fiqh and Tafsir, as far as I know.” (End quote from As-Silsilah Ad-Da`ifah, 3/268)

The correct view regarding this matter is that the ruling on doing Wudu after eating anything that has been touched by fire has been abrogated, but it is obligatory to do Wudu after eating camel meat.

An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Is-haq ibn Rahawayh, Yahya ibn Yahya, Abu Bakr ibn Al-Mundhir and Ibn Khuzaymah thought that it (eating camel meat) breaks Wudu; this was also the view favoured by Al-Hafidh Abu Bakr Al-Bayhaqi. It was reported from the scholars of Hadith and from a group of the Companions.

They took as evidence the Hadith of Jabir ibn Samurah which was narrated by Muslim. Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Is-haq ibn Rahawayh said: It has been reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in these two authentic Hadiths, the Hadith of Jabir and the Hadith of Al-Bara’. This view has stronger evidence even though the majority follow the opposite.

The majority responded to this with the Hadith of Jabir: the last of the two commands from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was that there was no need to do Wudu after eating meat that had been touched by fire. But this Hadith is general, whereas the Hadith about doing Wudu after eating camel meat is specific, and a specific ruling takes precedence over a general one.” (End quote from Sharh Muslim, 4/49)

Among contemporary scholars, Shaykh `Abd Al-`Aziz ibn Baz, Shaykh Ibn `Uthaymin and Shaykh Al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on them) also said this.

For more details, please see the following answers: 85534, 10498, and 20330

And Allah knows best.