The animals, the meat of which is allowed to be eaten, such as sheep, goat, cow, camel, deer, domestic fowl etc. have to be slaughtered in the prescribed manner. Otherwise, if they die their natural death or are killed by beating, wounding or in any way other than the prescribed one their flesh is not lawful.

There are two kinds of animals. Firstly, those which are unclean in themselves and cannot be purified by any means such as dog and pig. Secondly, those animals which are clean in themselves. (All animals, except dog and pig, are clean in themselves.)

Since the first kind of animals are not clean it is not lawful to eat their meat. They cannot become clean and lawful under any circumstances. In case the second kind of animals die they will be unclean and their meat will also be unlawful unless religious purification takes place1.

The religious purification of animals takes place in two ways.

(i) Hunting

Hunting is lawful in two circumstances only. Firstly, by means of hunting dogs who are duly trained and do not have the habit of eating their animals of prey. A person who sends a dog for hunting should, besides being a Muslim, say Bismillah (In the Name of Allah) while sending it and should also not lose its sight. An animal of prey which such a dog catches fulfilling all these conditions is lawful.

The second method is hunting with weapons such as: arrow, sword, spear and even the bullets of a rifle if they rend the body.

The meat of the lawful wild animals and birds killed with hunting weapons is legally edible provided the following five conditions are observed.

(i) The weapon must be incisive or sharp, and rµust not be of the nature of a net, a stick or a stone.

(ii) The hunter must be a Muslim.

(iii) He should utter the Name of Allah at the time of using his weapon.

(iv) The weapon must be used with the intention of killing the game. If it is killed accidentally, its flesh is not lawful.

(v) When the hunter reaches the game, it should be already dead. If it is caught alive and there is sufficient time to slaughter, it must be slaughtered.

Hunting in circumstances other than the two mentioned above is unlawful whether the animal is hunted with a snare or the like or with the help of animals other than hunting dogs. In case, however, an animal is caught alive by these means and then slaughtered it is lawful.

(ii) Slaughtering

The animals, the meat of which is allowed to be eaten, have to be slaughtered in the prescribed manner. If they die in any way other than the prescribed one their flesh is not lawful.

An act of slaughter to be legal must satisfy the following five conditions:

(i) The person who slaughters must be a Muslim.

(ii) The animal while being slaughtered should be facing the Qiblah.

(iii) He must utter the Name of Allah when slaughtering.

(iv) He must cut the throat of the animal with a sharp implement made of iron in a way that the jugular artery, jugular vein, oesophagus canal and trachea are cut. (If, however, an iron-made instrument is not available it should suffice if the animal is slaughtered with some other incisive implement).

(v) It must move after having been slaughtered.

In the case of a camel the only prescribed method of its slaughter is Nahr, which means thrusting a knife or any other sharp implement into the cavity between its neck and chest. Other conditions are the same in this case also.

If for some reason it is not possible to slaughter a.n animal (e.g. when it falls down into a well or is unruly) it can be made to submit by means of a sword or the like. It is lawful if it is killed with those strokes but should be slaughtered in case it remains alive.

Animals whose blood does not gush out are usually unlawful except the fish with scales. If the fish having scales is caught alive and dies after having been taken out of water, it is lawful. But if it dies inside the water, it is unlawful. The fish having no scales is unlawful, even if it is caught alive and dies out of water.

An interesting story: Muhammad Ibn Nu’man Ahwal alias Mumin Taq (who was one of the learned and witty disciples of Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq) relates thus: One day I went to see Abu Hanifah. I saw that he had a large number of books before him so much so that the books screened him from my sight. Then the following conversation took place: Abu Hanifah: Do you see these books?

Mumin Taq: Yes.

Abu Hanifah: They all relate to orders regarding “Divorce”.

Mumin Taq: Allah has made us independent of all these books of your by means of one verse in the Holy Qur’an wherein He says:

“Prophet and believers, if you want to divorce your wives, you should divorce them at a time after which they can start their waiting period. Let them keep an account of the number of the days in the waiting period. Have fear of Allah, your Lord” (65:1).

Abu Hanifah: Have you ever enquired from your friend (Imam As-Sadiq) regarding this problem as to whether the meat of a cow which comes out of the river is lawful or not?

Mumin Taq: Yes. He has told me that it is lawful to eat any animal which has scales, whether it be a camel or a cow and the one which does not have scales is unlawful. And the purification of a fish is that it should die while out of water.2

• 1. It means that the prescribed ceremonies and conditions of slaughtering should be observed. In case, however, such purification does take place they remain clean in the same manner in which they were while alive but their meat will be lawful only in case they are not wild beasts and carnivorous animals.
• 2. It appears that by assuming this strange problem Abu Hanifah wanted to render Mumin Taq speechless who used to say, “We have acquired general rules from the Holy Qur’an and the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt which provide replies to all secondary problems which may arise”. However, he (Mumin Taq) immediately stated the general rule about aquatic animals which he had heard from Imam As-Sadiq and thus gave him (Abu Hanifah) an appropriate reply.