Hadith On Bones, Animal Dung And Charcoal Being Food For Jinns
There lies some contradictions among various narrations on the same subject-matter. – In some narrations, Jinns have claimed all of it ( bones, dung, charcoal ) to be their food ( https://sunnah.com/abudawud:39 , https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:18 ) , – In one narration, general prohibition of using dung and bones for cleaning is mentioned without any mention of Jinns ( https://sunnah.com/nasai:39 ). This is understandable on simple grounds of purity that such things being inappropriate for such purpose. – In a very long narration on this subject which is reported by Bukhari and Muslim in which a group of Jinns asked for food from prophet Muhammad (sws) or may be they inquired about halal food for them to which prophet muhammad (sws) responded and prayed that meat and bones of animals on which name of Allah is invoked is Halal for them and animal dung being fodder for their animals ( not for the Jinns but for their animals ) ( https://sunnah.com/muslim:450a , https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3860 , https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:3258 ). Therefore, in that specific instance after the meeting with these jinns, it is possible that Prophet (sws) might have asked the Muslims present there to abstain from such things for cleaning purposes ( these things being impure ) and also as a courtesy to Jinns who had just met the Prophet (sws) and asked for food.