The evidence for the prohibition of domesticated donkeys is what is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from Anas ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: On the day of Khaybar, the Prophet instructed Abu Talhah to proclaim: “Allah and His Messenger forbid you the meat of domesticated donkeys, for they are impure.” (1) Thus, the ruling was established together with its underlying reason, namely his saying: “for they are impure.”

As for wild donkeys, we have said that no evidence is needed to establish their lawfulness, since that is the basic presumption. Nevertheless, it is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs that al-Saʿb ibn Jaththāmah, may Allah be pleased with him, presented the Prophet with a wild donkey while he was at al-Abwāʾ, travelling to Makkah during the Farewell Pilgrimage. Yet the Prophet returned it, explaining why he had done so: “We returned it to you only because we are in a state of iḥrām.” (2) That is, we are in pilgrimage consecration, and you hunted it for us, so we cannot eat it.

Issue: If a wild donkey becomes domesticated, does eating it become forbidden? No, because consideration is given to its original classification.

Therefore, pay attention to the enumeration of the animals that are forbidden, for the animals that are forbidden are far fewer than those that are lawful; they are limited in number. The first is: “domesticated donkeys.”

“And every animal with a fang by which it preys, except the hyena …”

The second is his statement: “and every animal with a fang by which it preys,” meaning every predatory beast that has a fang with which it preys. The meaning of “by which it preys” is: by which it hunts; thus, it tears into