The qiblah is the direction faced during prayer, in which a person turns to Allah. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) instructed the worshipper to have a sutrah (screen) so that no one will pass in front of him and interrupt his prayer, especially in open spaces. However, in the case of congregational prayer, if the imam has a sutrah for himself, then he is the sutrah for those who are praying behind him. In this hadith, Nafi‘, the freed slave of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, narrates that he saw Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) praying, using his camel – the Arabic word refers to a camel used for travelling – as a screen whilst he was praying, so that no one would walk in front of him, between him and the qiblah. Then ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) stated – and it is as if he was asked about what he had done – that he had seen the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) praying whilst facing towards his camel, making it like a screen whilst he prayed, and that he was following the example of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). This is different from the issue of praying in camel pens, concerning which it was narrated that that is prohibited – as it was narrated by al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah and others that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “… and do not pray in camel pens.” Rather the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) prayed in the direction of the camel, not in the place where it was kept. It cannot be said that if a camel kneels in a place, that place then becomes a pen for it, or a place that is known to be for camels; rather pens are the places that are already prepared and equipped for camels to stay there overnight, and it is known to the people and to the camels themselves that these places are for them, so they naturally go to that place at the end of the day, without any trouble..