captured it for itself. If, however, it does not eat from the prey, that indicates that it meant the catch for its owner. This is what these and other texts point to, and the scholars have therefore ruled that any quarry from which the dog has eaten is unlawful.

Al-Wazīr said: The majority of scholars—including the three Imams Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad—require that the dog refrain from eating; Mālik, however, does not make this a condition.

10- His words: “If you find with your dog another dog, and the game has been killed, then do not eat, for you do not know which of them killed it.” The guiding rule here is that when a permissive factor and a prohibitive factor coincide, the side of prohibition is given precedence, for the default is prohibition.

Sharḥ al-Iqnāʿ states: If someone finds another dog with his own and does not know which of the two killed the quarry, or knows that they killed it together, or knows that the unknown dog killed it alone, the game is not lawful, because the presumption of prohibition prevails.

11- Allah the Exalted says, “…and such of the predators as you train” (Qur’an 5:4). This verse proves that every hunting predator, whether beast or bird, may lawfully be used for the chase. Among the beasts that seize with their teeth are the dog, the cheetah, the lion, and the leopard; among the birds that seize with their talons are the falcon, the peregrine, the hawk, and the eagle. The ḥadīth mention the dog specifically only because it is the most common and because it accepts training and discipline more readily than the others.

Moreover, in Arabic usage the term kalb (dog) can include all beasts of prey. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “O Allah, unleash upon him a dog from among Your dogs,” and a lion devoured him (reported by al-Bayhaqī in Dalā’il al-Nubuwwa 2/338).

Sharḥ al-Iqnāʿ comments: “Predators are of two kinds: those that hunt with their teeth, such as the dog and the cheetah, and those that hunt with their talons, such as the hawk and the falcon.”

12- His words in ḥadīth no. 1163, “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about hunting with the mi‘rāḍ…,” show that the mi‘rāḍ is an arrow without feathers or a head. If it kills the quarry with its point, the shaft has pierced and wounded the animal, so it is lawful. But if it kills with the side of the shaft, the animal has died from the force of the blow, and that is unlawful; it falls under the category of al-mawqūdha (the beaten animal).