Some scholars have said that the only condition is that it be trained; as for not eating from the prey, that depends on customary practice. Thus, if it eats a small amount—such as a beast of prey must inevitably eat from its quarry—this does no harm and does not negate its having caught it for you. For had it caught it for itself, it would have eaten all of it, especially if the prey were small. But the first view is correct.

Some scholars have drawn a distinction, saying: if it eats while hungry, then what remains is lawful; but if it is not hungry, then it is not lawful. We can determine whether it is hungry or not by having fed it: if it eats from the game after having eaten its supper, for example, then it is full; but if it has gone two days without food and then eats from the game, it is hungry. Yet no bird of prey is free from this. However, the apparent meaning of the hadiths indicates that if it eats, then do not eat, for the Prophet ﷺ said: “It caught it only for itself.” (1) There are other hadiths, though they are less authentic than this hadith. The Prophet ﷺ was asked, “May I eat from what it catches?” He said, “Eat.” He was asked, “Whether it has eaten or not?” He said, “Whether it has eaten or not.” (2)

Some scholars have cited this hadith as evidence that it is not a condition that it refrain from eating. Others have drawn a distinction, applying the two hadiths to two different cases: the ruling “whether it has eaten or not” applies when it is hungry, while the condition that it not eat applies when it is full. In reality, this reconciles the two evidences.

Some scholars reconciled them by saying that, in the first hadith, the Messenger ﷺ was addressing a wealthy man, so he said: “If it eats, then do not eat, for it caught it only for itself”; whereas in the second, he was addressing a poor man. But this