Book of Dietary Rulings

Sea Creatures
Fish are lawful to eat regardless of the manner in which they die. According to the sounder opinion, the same rule applies to all other marine animals. A second view forbids them, while a third distinguishes: whatever has an edible counterpart on land is permissible, and whatever does not—such as dogs and donkeys—is not. Anything that lives both in water and on land, like frogs, crabs, and snakes, is forbidden.

Land Animals
Permissible to eat are the grazing livestock, horses, wild cattle and wild donkey, gazelle, hyena, monitor-lizard, rabbit, fox, jerboa, fennec, and sable. Unlawful are the mule, the domestic donkey, and every predatory beast with fangs and every bird with talons—such as the lion, tiger, wolf, bear, elephant, monkey, goshawk, peregrine falcon, falcon, vulture, and eagle—as well as the jackal and the wild cat (the sounder view).

Also unlawful are all creatures that Islamic law encourages one to kill: the gecko, scorpion, carrion crow, kite, mouse, and every harmful predator; likewise the bearded vulture and the buzzard. The preponderant opinion allows the grain-eating crow but forbids the parrot and the peacock.

Lawful birds include the ostrich, crane, duck, goose, chicken, and pigeon—that is, every bird that coos and warbles—as well as any species shaped like a sparrow, whatever its color or variety, such as the nightingale, wagtail, and starling. Unlawful are the swallow, the bee, the fly, and insects like the beetle and the worm.

The same ruling applies to any offspring produced from a lawful and an unlawful species. Concerning animals for which no explicit text exists: if people of means and sound natural taste find them wholesome, then