First: this is based on the Prophet’s general prohibition of selling meat for a live animal (1). If we were to take this hadith at its apparent meaning, we would say that it is general and includes cases in which the animal is of the same genus as the meat and cases in which it is of a different genus. This does not accord with the author’s view, for the author—may Allah have mercy on him—holds that meat may not be sold for a live animal of the same genus.

For example, fifty kilograms of sheep meat may not be sold for a sheep of the same genus, due to the prohibition on selling meat for a live animal. However, the scholars differ regarding the authentication of this hadith, and its soundness is disputed.

Second: if he sells this meat for this animal, it is as though he has sold a food commodity for one of the same genus, with an additional item of a different genus on one side. For if we suppose that this heap consists of meat—that is, lean flesh—then the animal being sold contains meat, fat, liver, lungs, heart, spleen, tripe, intestines, and so on. It is therefore like one who sells a ribā-bearing commodity for the same commodity together with something of a different genus. This is what the jurists refer to as the case of a mudd of Ajwa dates and a dirham. This is the ruling on the issue according to the author’s view.

Some scholars have said that there is nothing wrong with selling meat for a live animal without restriction, whether it is of the same genus or a different genus, because the intended purposes of an animal differ from those of meat: an animal may be intended for eating and for breeding