Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām - Abd Allah al-Bassam - (7/28)

upon Maimunah—the maternal aunt of Ibn ʿAbbās—and there they found a dabb (spiny-tailed lizard) that had been roasted on hot stones. Her sister, Ḥafīdah bint al-Hārith, had brought it from Najd and Maimunah presented it to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. He reached out his hand toward the lizard, whereupon one of the women present said, “Tell the Messenger of Allah what you have set before him.” They said, “It is a dabb, O Messenger of Allah!” At that, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, withdrew his hand. Khālid ibn al-Walīd asked, “Is the dabb forbidden, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “No. It simply does not inhabit the land of my people, so I do not have a taste for it.” Khālid said, “So I pulled it toward me and ate it while the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, looked on, and he did not forbid me from doing so.”

2 – The ḥadīth indicates the permissibility of eating the dabb; it is lawful. Nonetheless, it is among the game whose hunting and killing are prohibited both within the Sacred Precinct and for one in a state of ihram. Sharḥ al-Iqnaʿ states: “In the case of the dabb there is a kid; ʿUmar ruled concerning it, and a kid is the male offspring of goats that has not yet completed six months.”

3 – Sharḥ al-Iqnaʿ also says: “The dabb is permissible.” Abū Saʿīd remarked, “Every one of us, the Companions of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, would prefer to be given a dabb rather than a chicken.”

Its lawfulness represents the consensus of the scholars. Al-Nawawī said, “No reliable report establishes that anyone regarded it as disliked; and if such a view is verified, it is outweighed by the textual evidence and by the consensus of those before him.”

The Prophet’s merely finding it unappetizing, peace and blessings be upon him, does not contradict his never disparaging any food. As for the claim that the dabb is a creature that was transformed (mamsūkh), the authentic reports establish that every such transformed species leaves no progeny.

ميمونة -وهي خالة ابن عبَّاس- فوجد عندها ضبًّا محنوذًا، قدمت به أختها حفيدة بنت الحارث من نجد، فَقَدَّمَتْ لرسول الله ﷺ، فأهوى بيده إلى الضب، فقالت امرأة من النسوة الحضور: أَخْبِرْنَ رسول الله ﷺ بما قدمته له، قلن: هو الضب يا رسول الله! فرفع رسول الله ﷺ يده، فقال خالد بن الوليد: أحرامٌ الضب يا رسول الله؟ قال: "لا, ولكن لم يكن بأرض قومي فأجدني أعافه"، قال خالد: فاجتررته فأكلته، ورسول الله ﷺ ينظر، فلم ينهني. ٢ - الحديث يدل على جواز أكل الضب، وأنَّه حلال، وهو من الصيد الذي يحرم قتله وصيده في الحرم والإحرام، قال في شرح الإقناع: "وفي الضب جدي قضى به عمر، والجدي الذكر من أولاد المعز، ما بلغ ستَّة أشهر". ٣ - وقال في شرح الإقناع: فيباح ضب، قال أبو سعيد: "كُلُّنا معشر أصحاب محمَّد ﷺ؛ لأن يُهدى إلى أحدنا ضب أحب إليه من دجاجة". وحِلُّ أكله هو إجماع العلماء، وقال النووي: "لا تصح كراهته عن أحد، وإنْ صحَّ فمرجوحٌ بالنصوص، وإجماع من قبله". وكونه عافه ﷺ لا ينافي كونه لا يعيب طعامًا قط، وما ذُكِر أنَّه ممسوخٌ، فقد ثبت بالأحاديث أنَّ كُلَّ ممسوخ لا عقب له. ***