—or the head? The animal’s running and exertion are accomplished entirely by its feet (1)! So how can the one whose forelegs have crossed first and gone ahead be declared the loser merely because the other animal’s shoulder or head happens to be in front? Would that not be to make the one who was behind the winner, and the true winner the loser?!

It is well known that whenever one of two horses—or camels—puts its foot ahead of the other, it has outpaced it by the very instrument of the race; the head and the shoulder have no bearing on the judgment.

Indeed, Sufyān al-Thawrī’s statement that “in all such cases the decision is by the ear” is sounder than measuring by the head or the shoulder. That criterion is stated explicitly in the hadith of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib cited earlier (2), whereas nothing regarding the head or shoulder has been preserved from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ or from his Companions.

What appears most probable is that their settled practice was to decide the contest by the feet, just as in human races; in fact, the very notion of ‘winning’ is intelligible only on that basis. Therefore no explicit transmission is required, for the matter is self-evident and the customary norm was consistently observed. Allah, Exalted is He, knows best.