1158 – Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr, may Allah be pleased with her, said, “In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) we slaughtered a horse and ate it.” Agreed upon.⦗1⦘
What is derived from the ḥadith
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Horse: The Religious Encyclopedia defines it as “a single-hoofed mammal belonging to the equine family, used for riding. The Arabian stallion is the most esteemed breed, distinguished by speed, endurance, and agility.”
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The ḥadith proves the permissibility of eating horse meat, for the Prophet’s approval establishes it as part of his Sunnah.
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Al-nahr (piercing the throat and upper chest) is the specific form of slaughter for camels; other animals are ordinarily dispatched by dhabḥ (severing the throat). Yet the narration from Asmāʾ states that they performed nahr on the horse. The majority of scholars allow an animal that is normally dispatched by dhabḥ to be slaughtered by nahr and vice versa, although the better way is nahr for camels and dhabḥ for everything else.
Scholarly disagreement
Imām Mālik held that eating horse meat is mildly disliked (tanzīh).
Imām Abū Ḥanīfah likewise regarded it as disliked, citing the verse: “And He created horses, mules, and donkeys for you to ride and as adornment” (al-Naḥl 16:8). The verse enumerates Allah’s favors, and—he argued—had eating them been lawful it would have been an even greater favor than riding or adornment.
The response is that the verse speaks of what is usual, for the common benefit of horses lies in adornment and riding rather than eating.