says, “except what you have slaughtered” [Quran 5:3]. An act must necessarily be intentional, whereas one who lacks reason has no intention.

From this we derive a further condition: the intention to perform ritual slaughter. That is, in addition to sound reason, it is stipulated that the person intend the ritual slaughter. If he does not intend it—for example, if someone takes hold of a knife to cut a rope, and the rope is raised over a sheep’s neck, then, as he leans forcefully upon the rope, it suddenly snaps and the knife falls upon the sheep’s neck and cuts it—the sheep is not lawful, because he did not intend ritual slaughter.

Question: Along with intending ritual slaughter, is it also a condition that one intend it for eating? Or, if he intends ritual slaughter for a purpose other than eating, is the slaughtered animal lawful?

Answer: The scholars hold two views on this. Some maintain that this is a condition, and that he must intend to eat it. If he does not intend to eat it, the slaughtered animal is not lawful, because slaughter involves causing pain and destroying property: causing pain to the animal and destroying property. If a person does not intend to eat it, then he is not permitted to harm the animal or destroy the property.

In what situation might one not intend to eat it?

Answer: For example, a man has a sheep that bleats excessively, and he wishes to sleep but is unable to do so because of it. He says, “This one that has troubled me—I shall go and slaughter it.” So he goes and slaughters it, without intending to eat it. Or a dispute arises between a man and another person over a sheep, and he says, “This is the one that brought me into this dispute; by Allah, I shall slaughter it.” He then slaughters it in order to fulfill his oath, without intending to eat it. Some scholars say that it is not lawful, and this was the preferred view of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn