This article is about the use of camel urine as medicine in the Hadiths and how such usage is viewed in the Muslim world.

drink, their milk and urine (as a medicine).

Sahih Bukhari 8:82:794 Narrated Anas:Some people from the tribe of 'Ukl came to the Prophet and embraced Islam. The climate of Medina did not suit them, so the Prophet ordered them to go to the (herd of milch) camels of charity and to, their milk and(as a medicine).

drink their milk and urine. They did so and were all right.

Sahih Muslim 16:4130 Anas b. Malik reported that some people belonging (to the tribe) of 'Uraina came to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) at Medina, but they found its climate uncongenial. So Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said to them: If you so like, you may go to the camels of Sadaqa andtheir milk and. They did so and were all right.

drank their milk and their urine they would recover, so off they went.

From The Sirat Rasul Allah ( The Life of The Prophet of God ), by Ibn Ishaq (3) pages 677, 678 "A tradtionalist told me from one who had told him from Muhammad b. Talha from Uthman v. Abdul-Rahman that in the raid of Muharib and B. Thalaba the apostle had captured a slave called Yasar, and he put him in charge of his milch-camels to shepherd them in the neighborhood of al-Jamma. Some men of Qays of Kubba of Bajila came to the apostle suffering from an epidemic and enlarged spleens, and the apostle told them that if they went to the milch camels andtheir milk and theirthey would recover, so off they went.

It appears Muhammed believed camel urine had medicinal value and prescribed it to cure the men’s illness.

There is also the possibility the use of camel urine was a cultural norm among the Bedouin Arabs as camels had many valuable uses among the people of ancient Arabia. How use of the camel was viewed in ancient Arabia.

For centuries the Nabataean moved goods in the desert by camel caravan. The camel was the backbone of their merchant enterprise, and it is only through understanding the camel, that we can better understand the Nabataean. While the Nabataeans are mostly remembered in the west for the ancient city of Petra, the Nabataeans themselves etched graffiti on many of the rocks and wadi walls of the Middle East. Many of these inscriptions bear reference to or pictures of camels and are the items that the common people left behind in their own memory. The Bedouin use the camel for many purposes, including transport, meat, milk, and sometimes they make use of their skins. Camels were also used in war. The Bedouin use the camel to scout out new grazing land before they move. The camel then changes to a pack animal, carrying tents, equipment and women and children. The Bedouin also live off of the milk of camels. For many Bedouin, milk replaces water in their diet, sometimes living off of several camels at a time. Often a young camel is killed and eaten, and the mother camel is milked each day. If the calf is not killed, then they share the mother's milk, using one side of the udder for the calf and the other for themselves. The camel also supplies the Bedouin with a ready supply of meat. Often camels are slaughtered for an occasion, and the whole tribe partakes in the meal. Often a young camel is slaughtered, that has not been used as beasts of burden or for ploughing, as the meat of these animals is considerably tougher. From the hide of the camel, the Bedouin make containers to keep water in, and buckets to raise water from wells or pools, or even troughs to put water in for the camels to drink. From this hide, Bedouin also make sandals for themselves, as well as other leather items for the tent. The fur of the camel is used to weave bags for gain of flour and to make tent panels for flaps, or to make an aba for the owner of the house, or a cover for the saddle of his horse. Usually the fur is only taken as the camel sheds its fur during the beginning of the summer. Often the women collect it before it falls out, and some try to hide it from the men and sell it secretly so they can buy bits of cheap jewelry. Camel dung is used as fuel for fires in the winter, and sometimes for cooking food. Camel urine is often used as a hair wash to protect it from knits, and to give it a reddish hue. Some even drink the urine as medicine for certain diseases. In the past, the mahr, or dowry given to a bride was paid by a fixed number of camels, depending on the social standing of the bride and her family, or the bride groom’s ability to pay.

The Camel:Ancient ship of the Desert and the Nabataeans In the past, the mahr, or dowry given to a bride was paid by a fixed number of camels, depending on the social standing of the bride and her family, or the bride groom’s ability to pay.



Dhu lRumma, Diwan, edited by Charlile Henry Hayes Macartney, Cambridge, 1919, page 638 Arab poets have often called the camel the 'ship of the desert." Long ago, Saydah Dhu alRumma said that his she-camel was a safiinat al-barr or land ship. His poem stated "a land-ship whose reins beneath my cheek are passed."

According to Plinio Prioreschi, author of A History of Medicine: Byzantine and Islamic Medicine, the use of camel urine as medicine might have been a common remedy in Muhammed's time. According to Prioreschi there is some evidence the Arabs might have used the usual mixture of musical folk formulas and crude medicine including Drekapotheke (excrement ).

Evidently the camel played an important role to the Bedouin Arabs and this much suggests Muhammed got the idea of camel urine having medicinal properties from those around him.