44 – Book of Hunting and Slaughtering

It is permissible to hunt with a trained dog, a cheetah, a hawk, or any other trained predatory animal.

A dog is deemed trained when it has been restrained from eating its quarry on three consecutive occasions. A hawk is considered trained when it returns to its handler upon being called.

If a person releases his trained dog, hawk, or falcon, pronouncing the name of Allah at the moment of release, and the animal seizes the game, wounds it, and it then dies, the meat is lawful to eat. If the dog eats from the quarry, the meat becomes unlawful; if the hawk eats from it, the meat remains lawful.

Should the hunter reach the quarry while it is still alive, he must perform ritual slaughter. If he neglects to do so until it dies, it is unlawful to eat. Likewise, if the dog kills the game by strangling it without inflicting a wound, the meat may not be eaten.

If an untrained dog, a Magian’s dog, or any dog over which the name of Allah was not pronounced joins in the hunt, the quarry may not be eaten.

When a man shoots an arrow at game, uttering the name of Allah as he releases it, he may eat whatever the arrow hits, provided the arrow wounds the animal and it dies. If he reaches it alive, he must slaughter it; if he fails to slaughter it until it dies, it is unlawful.

If the arrow strikes and the animal runs off until it disappears from sight, yet the hunter continues to track it and eventually finds it dead, the meat is lawful. But if he abandons the search and later comes upon it dead, it is unlawful.

If the game falls into water after being shot and dies there, it may not be eaten. The same ruling applies if it first lands on a roof or mountain and then tumbles to the ground and dies. If, however, it falls directly to the ground, the meat is lawful.

Game struck by a mi’rād (club-headed arrow) with its flat side may not be eaten, whereas if the mi’rād wounds the animal, it is lawful. Any game that dies after being hit by a nabdqa (stone bullet or similar projectile) may not be eaten.

If a hunter shoots and severs a limb from the animal, the remainder may be eaten but the detached limb may not. Should the body be split into thirds and the larger portion remains attached to the hind part, it is lawful; if the larger portion remains with the head, only that larger portion may be eaten and the smaller portion may not.

Game taken by a Magian, an apostate, or an idolater is unlawful to eat.

If someone wounds game but does not incapacitate it, and another hunter then shoots and kills it, the quarry belongs to the second hunter and is lawful to eat.