ARTICLE
Quran & Ahadith: Donkey Meat
With ahadith and fiqh on Horse & Mule Meat & Milk
DONKEY and HORSE in the Quran
والخيل والبغال والحمير لتركبوها وزينة ويخلق مالاتعلمون
"And the horse and the mule and the donkey, they are for you to ride and a source of beauty. And He creates other
things you do not know."
— َQuran. Surat al-Nahl 16:8
واعدوا لهم مااستطعتم من قوة ومن رباط الخيل ترهبون به عدو الله وعدوكم واخرين من دونهم لاتعلمونهم الله يعلمهم وماتنفقوا من شئ في سبيل الله يوف اليكم وانتم لاتظلمون
"Arm yourselves against them with all the firepower and cavalry you can muster, to terrify the enemies of Allah and
your enemies, and others besides them whom you do not know. Allah knows them. Anything you spend in the Way of Allah
will be repaid to you in full. You will not be wronged. "
— Quran. Surat al-Anfal 8:60
Hadith referencing DONKEY and HORSE
DONKEYS
Narrated
Anas bin Malik
:
"Someone came to Allah's Apostle and said,
"The donkeys have been (slaughtered and) eaten."
Another man came and said, "
The donkeys have been destroyed."
On that the Prophet ordered a caller to announce to the people:
'Allah and His Apostle forbid you to eat the meat of donkeys, for it is impure.'
Thus the pots were turned upside down while the (donkeys') meat was boiling in them.
— Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 67, Number 436
Narrated by
Ali ibn Abu Talib
(r.a.):
The Prophet (s.a.s.) abrogated (banned) temporary marriages and made the meat of the (domesticated) donkey unlawful on
the day of the battle of
Khaibar
.
Narrated by
Khalid ibn Waleed
(r.a.):
The Prophet (s.a.s.) prohibited the meat of horses and the mule and the donkey on the day of (the battle of)
Khaibar
.
[
AMNA Note
: Conflicts following
hadith
.]
Narrated by
Jabir
(r.a.):
The Prophet (s.a.s.) prohibited the meat of domesticated donkey and he permitted the (eating of) horse meat on the day
of
Khaibar
.
—Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim
[
AMNA Note
: Conflicts preceding
hadith
.]
Narrated
Al-Bara'
and
Ibn Abi 'Aufa
:
The Prophet prohibited the eating of donkey's meat.
— Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 67, Number 434
HORSES
Asma' said:
"We slaughtered a horse (by
dhabh
) during the lifetime of Allah's Apostle while we were at Medina, and we ate it.
"
— Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 67, Number 419
Islamic Schools of Thought
DONKEYS
Ibnul-Mundhir
said:
"There is no disagreement among Muslim scholars regarding the prohibition of the flesh of domestic donkeys."
—
Ar-Rawd Al-Murbi'
. 7: 418
MULES
Sheikh Muhammad bin Salih Al-‘Uthaimin
said:
“
Also included (in the prohibition of impure animals) is that which is born an animal which may be eaten and one which
may not, such as the Mule, because the mule is born of the donkey when it mates with a female horse, and the horse is
permissible, while the donkey is forbidden. So when something is born of that which may be eaten and that which may not,
the forbidden portion overcomes the permissible portion and it becomes forbidden.”
— Fatawa Islamiya, Vol. 6, p. 219
HORSES
The majority of scholars are of the view that it is permissible to eat horses, because of the sound ahadith narrated by Jabir and by Asma' concerning so.
The Hanafi & Maliki Schools of fiqh :
Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik consider eating the meat of horse mekhrouh tahreem ( مكروه تحريم ). The horse is a noble creature, bestowing nobility on those who ride it. It is also a valuable instrument of battle. Therefore, Imam Abu Hanifa considers it demeaning to use it as a source for meat.
The Shafi'i School of fiqh :
Imam Shafi'i considers that there is nothing wrong with ( لا باس باكله ) eating horse meat, and considers it as makhrouh tanzih (مكروه تنزيه) , citing the hadith of Jabir (r.a.).
MILK
There is a consensus among the
Imams of fiqh
regarding the milk of horse and donkey. that there is no problem with drinking it because it does not result in the
depletion of the tools of war.