Does eating camel meat break wudu?

Why camel meat is a special case

Hardly any food breaks wudu. Even pork, which Muslims never eat, does not cancel it. See Does eating pork break wudu? Camel meat is the one food scholars debate, because of a hadith in Sahih Muslim.

A man asked the Prophet ﷺ whether he should make wudu after eating mutton. The Prophet ﷺ said he could if he wished. Then the man asked about camel meat, and the Prophet ﷺ said yes, make wudu after it (Sahih Muslim 360).

The view that it breaks wudu

The Hanbali school takes the hadith at face value. The Prophet ﷺ clearly treated camel meat differently from sheep, so they say it is a real wudu, not just a hand wash. A number of scholars from other schools have also found this evidence strong.

In practice, followers of this view make wudu after eating camel meat, even if their wudu was valid before the meal.

The view that it does not

The Hanafi, Maliki and Shafi'i schools read the hadith differently:

• In Arabic, the word wudu can also mean simply washing your hands and mouth. Camel meat is rich and greasy, so they understand the instruction as a call to clean up after eating.
• They also point to a report that the last practice of the Prophet ﷺ was not to make wudu after eating food cooked on a fire (Sunan Abi Dawud 192).

These schools say wudu is broken only by things like using the toilet, passing wind or deep sleep, not by food. See What breaks wudu?

What should I do?

• If you follow the Hanbali school: make wudu after eating camel meat.
• If you follow another school: your wudu stays valid, and any prayer you already offered is fine.
• If you don't follow a school yet: simply make a quick wudu before your next prayer. It takes a minute and is correct under both views.

You only need to do this once after the meal, not before every bite. Your wudu then lasts as usual until something breaks it. See Do I have to make wudu for every prayer?

Camel meat is rare in Europe and the USA, but you may meet it at Somali, Gulf or North African restaurants and at some halal butchers. It is halal like other permitted meat.