Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 856 [Read full issue]
Stray Camels
The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were pioneers of the method of investigating the surrounding conditions of hadiths, and of the reasons that constitute their context. They abandoned acting on the outward sense of certain Hadiths when it was clear to them that these Hadiths were attached to the condition fixed in the era of Prophethood, and subsequently that condition had changed.
An example of that is the Prophet's (peace be upon him) attitude to stray camels. When he was asked about them, he forbade rounding them up, and said to the questioner: "What is it [to do] with you and with them? You can leave them be. For indeed they have their 'shoes' and their 'waterskins'. They will find water, they will eat [from] the shrubs - until their master finds them." [Bukhari, Muslim]
During the time of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and Umar ibn al-Khattab, the stray camel was left alone in whatever condition it was and, following the command of the Messenger, no one took possession of it - for as long as it was capable of defending itself, and capable of tracking water to drink and shrubs to eat - until its owner found it.
Then came the time of Uthman ibn Affan. Malik narrates in the Muwatta that he heard Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri say: "Uthman ibn Affan ordered the identification of them (stray camels) then selling [of them]. Then when the owner of them came he was given the price [obtained] for them." After Uthman, conditions changed a little. Ali ibn Abi Talib agreed in permitting the rounding up of the camels and keeping them safe for their owners. However, he took the view that at times there might be some harm in selling them and rendering their price to their owners - because the price did not have the same use for the owners as the camels themselves. Later on he held that rounding up of strays and the expenditure on them should be from the public treasure - until such time as their owner came and they would be given back to him.
In what Uthman and Ali did, there is no opposition to the words of the Prophet. Rather, they looked to his purpose, and to how the character of people had changed -not honouring rights had crept into their ways, and some of them were stretching their hands to the forbidden. The strays from the camels and cattle were left to get lost by themselves, and their being abandoned was not a care upon their owners. The Prophet did not intend this at all when he forbade rounding them up. Rather, it was to avert this particular harm.
Compiled From:
"Approaching the Sunnah" - Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, pp. 130-132