and Abū Thaʿlabah al-Khushani.” End quote.

It is likewise forbidden to eat any bird that feeds on carrion—such as the vulture, the Egyptian vulture, and the crow—because of the impurity of its diet.

Also prohibited are animals that people naturally find repulsive, like the snake, the rat, and creeping insects.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) said, “Eating snakes and scorpions is unanimously forbidden. Whoever eats them deeming them lawful must be instructed to repent, and whoever accepts that they are forbidden yet still eats them is a sinner who has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger.”

Insects are unlawful because they fall under the category of impure creatures.

Likewise impermissible are animals produced by crossbreeding a lawful species with an unlawful one, such as the mule that results from a horse and a domesticated donkey; in such cases the side of prohibition is given precedence.

Some scholars have summarized the land animals whose flesh is forbidden into six categories:

1 Those whose specific prohibition is explicitly stated, like domesticated donkeys.
2 Those defined by a general rule, namely every predator with fangs or any bird of prey with talons.
3 Those that feed on carrion, such as the Egyptian vulture and the crow.
4 Those that people find repugnant, like rats and snakes.
5 Hybrids produced from a lawful and an unlawful parent, for example the mule.