categories.” This is Mālik’s position—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—as transmitted by Ashhab. It is also the position of Ibn al-Mājishūn and Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam, and what the latter transmitted from Mālik. If, however, the injury has caused lethal damage to a vital organ, the animal cannot be lawfully slaughtered or eaten, by agreement within the school, for it is effectively carrion. Any movement thereafter is merely like the movement of a slaughtered animal after slaughter.

In the Book of Blood Money, Abū Zayd transmitted from Ibn al-Qāsim, concerning someone who inflicts a fatal injury on a man’s vital organs and another then finishes him off, that the second is executed in retaliation while the first is punished. On the basis of this report, those who regard the exception as connected would have to permit the lawful slaughter of these categories of animals even after lethal damage to their vital organs. This report, however, is weak. The correct report is that transmitted by Yahyā and Sahnūn: the first is executed in retaliation, while the second is punished.

It has been reported from ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib that their slaughter is valid so long as life remains in them, manifested by a visible movement of a foreleg or hind leg, even if their vital organs have sustained lethal damage. This is also the position of Ibn ‘Abbās. It is reported that he was asked about a sheep attacked by a wolf, which tore open its belly until its intestines spilled out, but which was nevertheless slaughtered while still alive. He replied: “Eat it, but do not eat any of its intestines that have spilled out.”

Section

There are five injuries agreed to be fatal: severance of the spinal cord, which is the marrow within the bones of the neck and spine; severance of the jugular veins; perforation of the intestine; the spilling out of the viscera; and the spilling out of the brain matter. When they say that perforation of the intestine is fatal, they mean only a perforation of its upper part, through which food and drink pass before changing into excrement. A perforation of its lower part, where the excrement is, is not a fatal injury.

We say this because we have seen many animals and human beings sustain wounds that perforate the intestine where excrement passes, so that excrement emerges through the wound, yet they continue to live for some time, moving about and going to and fro. Had the perforation occurred where food and drink pass, they would have survived only a short part of a day. Consider how, when ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah Most High be pleased with him—was stabbed and given milk to drink, it came out through the wound. It was then known that his vital organs had sustained lethal damage, and those present said to him: “Make your will, Commander of the Faithful.”

The senior scholars in our region used to disagree about an animal that appeared healthy when slaughtered but whose rumen was then found to be perforated. Indeed, someone I trust told me that such a case