The Book on Hunting

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Abū Thaʿlabah al-Khushanī said that they were a people who hunted. The Prophet told him: ‘When you send your dog and mention Allah’s name over it, then it catches game for you, eat it.’ He asked whether he could eat it even if the dog killed the animal, and the Prophet said yes. He said they also used arrows; the Prophet replied, ‘Eat what your arrow pierces.’ He asked about traveling among Jews, Christians, and Magians and finding only their vessels. The Prophet said, ‘If you find no others, wash them with water, then eat and drink from them.’ The report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. ʿĀʾidh Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh was Abū Idrīs al-Khawlānī. Abū Thaʿlabah’s name was Jurthūm, also said to be Jurthūm ibn Nāshir or Ibn Qays.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim said: ‘Messenger of Allah, we send out our trained dogs.’ The Prophet replied, ‘Eat what they catch for you, even if they kill the prey, provided no other dog joins them.’ ʿAdī said, ‘We also hunt with a miʿrāḍ.’ The Prophet said, ‘Eat what it pierces, but do not eat what it strikes with its broad side.’

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A similar report was narrated by Sufyān from Manṣūr, with the addition that the Prophet was asked about the miʿrāḍ. The report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

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Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh said: ‘We were forbidden from hunting with the dogs of the Magians.’ This report is gharīb and is known only through this route. Most scholars did not permit game caught by a Magian’s dog. Al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazzah was al-Qāsim ibn Nāfiʿ al-Makkī.

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ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim asked the Messenger of Allah about hunting with a falcon. He replied: ‘Eat what it catches for you.’ This report is known only through Mujālid from al-Shaʿbī. Scholars permitted hunting with falcons and hawks. Mujāhid explained that falcons are among the trained hunting animals mentioned in the Qur’an. Some scholars permitted eating the catch even if the falcon had eaten from it, saying that its training is shown by its response to the hunter. Others disliked this, but most jurists permitted eating it even if the bird had eaten from the prey.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim said: ‘Messenger of Allah, I shoot game and find my arrow in it the following day.’ The Prophet replied: ‘If you know your arrow killed it and find no trace of a predator on it, eat it.’ The report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ, and scholars act upon it. Shuʿbah narrated it both from Abū Bishr and from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Maysarah, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from ʿAdī; both reports are sound. It is also reported from Abū Thaʿlabah al-Khushanī.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Prophet said: ‘When you shoot an arrow, mention Allah’s name. If you find that it has killed the animal, eat it, unless you find that it fell into water, for you do not know whether the water or your arrow killed it.’ This report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

The Prophet said about a trained hunting dog: ‘When you send your trained dog after game and mention Allah’s name, eat what it catches for you. But if it eats from the prey, do not eat it, for it caught it for itself.’ He also said that if other dogs mix with it, the hunter had mentioned Allah’s name over his own dog and not the others. Sufyān disliked eating such prey. Some scholars also advised against eating game or slaughtered animals that had fallen into water and died there; others permitted eating an animal slaughtered by cutting its throat before it fell into water. Most scholars held that one should not eat game if the dog has eaten from it; Sufyān, Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq held this view. Some Companions and others permitted it despite the dog having eaten from the prey.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim asked the Prophet about hunting with a miʿrāḍ. He said: ‘Eat what you strike with its sharp edge, but what you strike with its broad side is a carcass.’

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Sufyān narrated a similar report from the Prophet, and scholars act upon it.

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A man from Jābir’s people hunted one or two rabbits, slaughtered them with a sharp stone, and carried them until he met the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet told him to eat them. Some scholars permitted slaughtering with a sharp stone and most permitted eating rabbit, though some disliked it. The narrators differed over whether the report came from Muḥammad ibn Ṣafwān or Ṣafwān ibn Muḥammad; Muḥammad ibn Ṣafwān is considered the correct name. Muḥammad judged the route from al-Shaʿbī through Jābir to be unpreserved.

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The Messenger of Allah forbade eating an animal that had been tied up and used for target practice. This report is gharīb. It is also reported from ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah, Anas, Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, Jābir, and Abū Hurayrah.

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At Khaybar, the Messenger of Allah forbade eating the meat of any predatory animal with fangs, any bird of prey with talons, domestic donkeys, animals tied up as targets, animals taken from predators before they were slaughtered, and mating with pregnant captive women until they had delivered. Abū ʿĀṣim explained that a mujaththamah is a bird or other animal set up as a target and shot at. A khalīsah is an animal seized from a wolf or other predator that dies in the person’s hand before it can be slaughtered.

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The Messenger of Allah forbade using any living creature as a target. This report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ, and scholars act upon it.

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The Prophet said: ‘The slaughter of a fetus is the same as the slaughter of its mother.’ This report is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ and is narrated through other routes from Abū Saʿīd. Scholars act upon it; this was the view of Sufyān al-Thawrī, Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq. Abū al-Waddāk was named Jabr ibn Nawf.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Abu Tha labah al-Khushani narrated that the Messenger of Allah prohibited eating every beast of prey with fangs.

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Another chain transmits similar wording. Abu Isa said: This hadith is hasan sahih. Abu Idris al-Khawlani was named Aidh Allah ibn Abdullah.

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Jabir narrated: On the day of Khaybar, the Messenger of Allah prohibited domestic donkeys, mule meat, every beast of prey with fangs, and every bird with talons. Reports on this topic are also narrated from Abu Hurayrah, al-Irbad ibn Sariyah, and Ibn Abbas. Abu Isa said: The hadith of Jabir is hasan gharib.

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Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allah prohibited every beast of prey with fangs. Abu Isa said: This hadith is hasan. Most of the people of knowledge among the Companions of the Prophet and others act upon it. This is the view of Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, al-Shafii, Ahmad, and Ishaq.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Abu Waqid al-Laythi narrated: When the Prophet came to Madinah, people were cutting the humps from camels and the fat tails from sheep. He said: Whatever is cut from a living animal is carrion.