it is a well-known bird, distinguished by its stripes and varied colours, with a delicate beak and a crest atop its head; taxonomically it belongs to the order of passerines.
It is innately malodorous because it builds its nest from dung, and this characteristic is common to the entire species.
4 – The sound ruling is that its flesh is forbidden to eat, for it emits a foul smell, lives on worms and filth, and because the Prophet ﷺ forbade killing it.
5 – The ṣurrad: In his commentary on al-Iqnāʿ it is described as a piebald bird—white on the belly, green on the back—large of head and beak, classed among the crows. It preys on sparrows and small birds and utters a shrill cry like a falcon.
Al-Damīrī said: “It is a bird of fierce temperament and powerful peck, carnivorous in diet, making its home in trees, atop citadels, and on the highest ramparts.”
6 – The stronger opinion is that eating it is prohibited on account of this ḥadith.
7 – The ḥadith shows that killing these four species is unlawful, and by extension that eating them is equally forbidden; for if their meat were lawful the Prophet ﷺ would not have prohibited killing them.
8 – A useful guideline for identifying animals and birds whose meat is forbidden: if the Lawgiver commands that a creature be killed—such as the five noxious creatures—or forbids killing it, as with the four mentioned in this ḥadith, then its flesh is unlawful.
9 – Any animal, bird, or insect that the Law forbids killing remains protected only so long as it causes no harm; if it becomes aggressive or harmful, it is permissible to kill it, even by means that eradicate the entire population, such as the use of pesticides.