1151 – Ibn Abī Awfā (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “We campaigned with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on seven expeditions, during which we used to eat locusts.” Agreed upon. (1)

Lexical notes
– al-jarād (locusts): with a fatḥah on both the jīm and the rāʾ; the singular is jarādah and the word is used for both the male and the female. It is said to derive from al-jard (“stripping”), because wherever the locust alights it strips it bare.

A scientific encyclopedia states: “Locusts belong to the insect class; they are large in size, red before reaching maturity and yellow afterwards. They usually surge from East Africa and migrate over vast distances to invade new areas; when they arrive at cultivated land they devour the crops.”

Ḥayāt al-Ḥayawān says: “Jarād, singular jarādah, is used for both male and female. Locusts occur in different forms: some are large-bodied, some red, some yellow, and some white.”

Al-Wasīṭ adds: “Locusts are a family of orthopterous insects (straight-winged).”

Points derived from the hadith
1 – The hadith establishes the permissibility of eating locusts, and the Muslims are unanimously agreed on this. Ibn Mājah (3220) narrates from Anas: “The wives of the Prophet ﷺ used to send one another trays of locusts as gifts.”

2 – The four Imams held it lawful to eat locusts in every case—whether the insect died naturally, was caught by a Magian hunter or a Muslim, and whether or not any part of it had been removed.