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Animals subject to ritual slaughter fall into four categories. The first comprises animals slaughtered by piercing the base of the neck, not by cutting the throat: camels of every kind. The second comprises animals slaughtered by either cutting the throat or piercing the base of the neck: cattle and animals treated similarly. The third comprises animals slaughtered by cutting the throat, not by piercing the base of the neck: all animals with flowing blood other than camels and cattle. The fourth comprises animals whose ritual slaughter is valid by means other than these two methods: game while being hunted and animals without flowing blood.
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There is disagreement concerning someone who, without necessity, cuts the throat of an animal normally slaughtered by piercing the base of the neck, or does the reverse. Mālik said in Ibn al-Mawwāz’s book: “It may not be eaten, whether he did so inadvertently or deliberately.” This is also the apparent position in al-Mudawwana. Ashhab said: “It may be eaten, whether he did so inadvertently or deliberately.” This is also the apparent meaning of the statement of Abd al-Azīz ibn Abī Salama in al-Utbiyya. Another opinion holds that eating it is disliked.
Ibn Bukayr said: “If a camel is slaughtered by cutting its throat, it may be eaten; but if a sheep is slaughtered by piercing the base of its neck, it may not be eaten.” An ostrich is slaughtered by cutting its throat, not by piercing the base of its neck; this was stated by Ibn al-Qāsim. It has been said that an elephant is slaughtered by piercing the base of its neck. The reasoning is that it has no neck in which the throat can be cut. The reasoning behind Ibn al-Qāsim’s position concerning the ostrich, despite its resemblance to a camel in having a long neck, is that it has no hollow at the base of the neck in which it can be pierced.
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The obligatory requirements of ritual slaughter by cutting the throat are five: intention, meaning the intent to perform ritual slaughter; severing the two jugular veins and the windpipe; and performing the cutting without interruption. Intention is obligatory by consensus. Severing the two jugular veins and the windpipe is obligatory according to Mālik and his companions. If someone severs the windpipe but not the two jugular veins, or severs the two jugular veins but not the windpipe, or severs one jugular vein and the windpipe but not the other jugular vein, the slaughtered animal may not be eaten. This differs from the position of al-Shāfi'ī and Abū Hanīfa—may Allah Most High have mercy on them both—who hold that ritual slaughter involves four structures: the windpipe, the oesophagus, and the two jugular veins. If three are severed and one remains intact, the slaughtered animal may be eaten.
Completely severing the windpipe is obligatory according to the underlying principles of Mālik’s school. However, it is reported from Ibn al-Qāsim and Ibn Kināna in al-Mudawwana—and this is also Ibn Habīb’s position—that severing half or more of it suffices. Sahnūn said: “Nothing suffices unless it is severed completely.”
Related to this is their disagreement concerning a slaughtered animal whose laryngeal prominence does not remain attached to the head. The well-known position in the school is that it may not be eaten. Yahyā ibn Umar related this from