—even a snake—can get at it, except for the kite, which seizes it by its spines and carries it up into the sky, then drops it. When it drops it and it reaches the ground, it dies and splits open for the kite.
Thus, the author says that the hedgehog is unlawful because affluent Arabs find it repulsive. Yet, if we were to find Arabs who did not find it repulsive, it would be lawful according to them. A man from an Arab country once stayed with us. One day in Ramadan, he ate the pre-dawn meal with us, then left after the dawn prayer, intending to return to break the fast and have dinner with us. When he came for the breaking of the fast, he had with him a sack containing something moving. We asked, “What is this?” He replied, “These are hedgehogs.” It seemed—and Allah knows best—that he wished to give them to us as a gift so that we could cook them for his pre-dawn meal. So we said to him, “This is not lawful in our school of law.” He said, “It is lawful in our school, and with us it is good food which we enjoy.” In such a case, must we open the sack and release them? No, because they are property that is inviolable in his view.
His statement: “and the porcupine.” It resembles a large hedgehog: a large animal, approximately the size of a cat, with spines. But it is not like the hedgehog. When it senses someone pursuing it or wishing to catch it, it shakes itself, whereupon spines shoot out from its body and strike him.
His statement: “and the mouse.” This is well known, and it is clearly unlawful—not because it is foul, but because of its aggression, for it is naturally disposed to aggression. This is why it is called the fuwaysiqah (the little pest). Like the mouse is the jerboa, which is a field mouse, and it is therefore not lawful because it is aggressive. For this reason, the desert jerboa is lawful, although it is close to and resembles the mouse. The desert jerboa is a small animal with long hind legs and short forelegs. It is intelligent: it digs itself a burrow and makes more than one entrance to it, one of which is an inconspicuous exit through which it escapes when needed.
His statement: “and the snake.” The snake is unlawful, and here there is a principle concerning the snake and the mouse,