25. Game

ahya related to me from Malik that Nafi said, "I was at al-Juruf(near Madina) and threw a stone at two birds, and hit them. One ofthem died, and Abdullah ibn Umar threw it away, and then went toslaughter the other one with an adze. It died before he couldslaughter it, so Abdullah threw that one away as well." Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Qasimibn Muhammad disapproved of eating game that had been killed withthrowing sticks and by clay pellets. Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Said ibnal-Musayyab disapproved of killing domestic animals that had becomewild by any means that game was slain such as arrows and the like. Malik said, "I do not see any harm in eating game which ispierced by a throwing stick in a vital organ. Allah, theBlessed, the Exalted! said, 'Oh you who believe! Allah will surely tryyou with something of the game that your hands and spears attain.' "(Sura 5 ayat 97). Yahya said, "Any game that man obtains byhis hand or by his spear or by any weapon which pierces it and reachesa vital organ, is acceptable as Allah, the Exalted, has said." Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard the people ofknowledge say that when a man hit game and something else might havecontributed to death, like water or an untrained dog, that game wasnot to be eaten unless it was beyond doubt that it was the arrow ofthe hunter that had killed it by reaching a vital organ, so that itdid not have any life after that. Yahya said that he heard Malik say that there was no harm ineating game when you did not see it die if you found the mark of yourdog on it or your arrow in it as long as it had not remainedovernight. If it had remained overnight, then it was disapproved of toeat it. Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umarsaid about a trained dog, "Eat whatever it catches for you whether iteats from it or not." Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard Nafi say thatAbdullah ibn Umar said, "Whether it eats from it or not." Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Sad ibn AbiWaqqas had said, when asked about a trained dog killing game, "Eat,even if only one piece of it remains." Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard some of thepeople of knowledge say that when falcons, eagles, and hawks and theirlike, understood as trained dogs understood, there was no harm ineating what they had killed in the course of hunting, if the name ofAllah had been mentioned when they were sent out. Malik said,"The best of what I have heard about retrieving game from the falcon'stalons or from the dog's fangs and then waiting until it dies, is thatit is not halal to eat it." Malik said, "The same applies toanything which could have been slaughtered by the hunter when it wasin the talons of the falcon or the fangs of the dog. If the hunterleaves it until the falcon or dog has killed it, it is not halal toeat it either". He continued, "The same thing applies to any game hitby a hunter and caught while still alive, which he neglects toslaughter before it dies." Malik said, "It is generallyagreed among us that it is halal to eat the game that a hunting-dogbelonging to magians hunts or kills, if it is sent out by a muslim andthe animal is trained. There is no harm in it even if the muslim doesnot actually slaughter it. It is the same as a muslim using amagian's knife to slaughter with or using his bow and arrows to shootand kill with. The game he shot and the animal he slaughters arehalal. There is no harm in eating them. If a magian sends out amuslim's hunting dog for game, and it catches it, the game is not tobe eaten unless it is slaughtered by a muslim. That is like a magianusing a muslim's bow and arrow to hunt game with, or like his using amuslim's knife to slaughter with. It is not halal to eat anythingkilled like that. Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abd ar-Rahman ibnAbi Hurayra asked Abdullah ibn Umar about eating what was cast up bythe sea and he forbade him to eat it. Then Abdullah turned and askedfor a Qur'an, and read, "The game of the sea and its flesh are halalfor you." Nafi added, "Abdullah ibn Umar sent me to Abdar-Rahman IbnAbi Hurayra to say that there was no harm in eating it." Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Sad al-Jari, the mawla of Umar ibn al-Khattab asked Abdullah ibn Umar aboutfish which had killed each other or which had died from severe cold .He said, "There is no harm in eating them.'' Sad said,' 'I then askedAbdullah ibn Amr ibn al As and he said the same." Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z-Zinad from Abu Salamaibn Abd ar-Rahman from Abu Hurayra and Zayd ibn Thabit that they sawno harm in eating what was cast up by the sea. Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z-Zinad from Abu Salamaibn Abd ar-Rahman that some people from al-Jar came to Marwan ibn al-Hakam and asked him about eating what was cast up by the sea. He said,"There is no harm in eating it." Marwan said, "Go to Zayd ibn Thabitand Abu Hurayra and ask them about it, then come to me and tell mewhat they say." They went to them and asked them, and they both said,"There is no harm in eating it " They returned to Marwan and told him.Marwan said, "I told you." Malik said that there was no harmin eating fish caught by magians, because the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, said, "In the sea's water ispurity, and that which is dead in it is halal. " Malik said,"If it is eaten when it is dead, there is no harm in who catches it." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shibab from Abu Idris al-Khawlani from Abu Tha~laba al-Khushani that the Messenger of Allah,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "It is haram to eatanimals with fangs " Yahya related to me from Malik from Ismail ibn Abi Hakim fromAbiyda ibn Sufyan al-Hadrami from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Eating animalswith fangs is haram. " Malik said, "This is the custom amongus." Yahya related to me from Malik that the best of what he had heardabout horses, mules, and donkeys was that they were not eaten becauseAllah, the Blessed, the Exalted,said, "And horses, and mules andasses, for you to ride, and as an adornment. " (Sura 16 ayat 8) . Hesaid, may He be Blessed and Exalted, "In cattle, some of them youride, and some of them you eat." (Sura 6 ayat 79). He said, theBlessed, the Exalted, "Mention Allah's name over what He has providedyou of cattle, and eat of them and feed the beggar (al-qani) and thesuppliant (al-mutarr). (Sura 22 ayat 34). Malik said "Allahmentioned horses, mules, and donkeys for riding and adornment, and Hementioned cattle for riding and eating." Malik said, "Al-qanialso means the poor." Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Ubaydullahibn Abdullah ibn Utba ibn Masud that Abdullah ibn Abbas said, "TheMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed bya dead sheep which had been given to a mawla of his wife, Maimuna. Hesaid, ' Aren't you going to use its skin?' They said, 'Messenger ofAllah, but it is carrion. 'The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, said, 'Only eating it is haram.' " Malik related to me from Zayd ibn Aslam from Ibn Wala al-Misrifrom Abdullah ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah blesshim and grant him peace, said, "A skin when it is tanned is pure." Yahya related to me from Malik from Yazid ibn Abdullah ibn Qusaytfrom Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Thawban from his mother thatA'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant himpeace, said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, ordered that the skins of carrion be used after they hadbeen tanned. Yahya related to me from Malik that the best of what he had heardabout a man who is forced by necessity to eat carrion is that he ateit until he was full and then he took provision from it. If he foundsomething which would enable him to dispense with it, he threw itaway. Malik when asked whether or not a man who had beenforced by necessity to eat carrion, should eat it when he also foundthe fruit, crops or sheep of a people in that place, answered, "If hethinks that the owners of the fruit, crops, or sheep will believe hisnecessity so that he will not be deemed a thief and have his hand cutoff, then I think that he should eat from whatever he finds that whichwill remove his hunger but he should not carry any of it away. Iprefer that he does that than that he eat carrion. If he fears that hewill not be believed, and will be deemed a thief for what he hastaken, then I think that it is better for him to eat the carrion, andhe has leeway to eat carrion in this respect. Even so, I fear thatsomeone who is not forced by necessity to eat carrion might exceed thelimits out of a desire to consume other peoples' property, crops orfruit." Malik said, "That is the best of what I have heard."