His statement, “For a gazelle: a she-goat.” The gazelle is smaller than the ibex, thaytal, and elk, so a she-goat is due for it, since it more closely resembles them (1).

His statement, “For a hyrax and a spiny-tailed lizard: a young male goat.” It says in al-Rawd: “The hyrax is a small, dark-grey creature, smaller than a cat, with no tail. It is well known, and a young male goat is due for it” (2). A young male goat is a male offspring of goats that has reached six months of age. Likewise, a young male goat is due for the spiny-tailed lizard, which is well known.

His statement, “For a jerboa: a young female goat.” The jerboa too is well known. It is an animal resembling a mouse, though its legs are longer and it has a long tail with abundant hair at its tip. It is among the most intelligent animals of its kind, for it digs a burrow in the ground and makes an entrance for it. Then, at the far end of the burrow, it digs until only a thin crust remains. If someone corners it from the entrance of the burrow, it escapes through that thin crust, which is called the jerboa’s escape-hole. From this, the term nifāq (hypocrisy) is derived, because the jerboa behaves deceptively in its burrow; yet it is a kind of hypocrisy