As for Mālik, the report he transmitted on this point through Abū Hurayrah is even clearer in contradicting the verse, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Eating every beast of prey that possesses fangs is unlawful.”
With the first ḥadīth it is still possible to reconcile it with the verse by construing the prohibition it contains as merely a matter of dislike (karāhah). The ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah, however, cannot be harmonised with the verse unless one holds that it abrogates the verse—this according to those who maintain that an addition constitutes abrogation and that the Qur’an may be abrogated by a mutawātir Sunnah.
Thus, whoever reconciles the ḥadīth of Abū Thaʿlaba with the verse treats the eating of predators as disliked, whereas whoever regards the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah as adding to what the verse contains judges the flesh of predators to be forbidden. Those who consider the hyena and the fox unlawful do so on the strength of the general wording “beasts of prey.” Those who restrict the ruling to animals that habitually attack people rely on what ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAmmār narrated:
“I asked Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh about the hyena—may one eat it?
He said, ‘Yes.’
I asked, ‘Is it considered game?’
He said, ‘Yes.’
I asked, ‘And did you hear that from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ yourself?’
He said, ‘Yes.’”
Although this report is narrated only by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, he is deemed trustworthy by a number of ḥadīth masters; it is also supported by the Prophet’s ﷺ tacit approval when the desert lizard (ḍabb) was eaten in his presence.
With regard to birds of prey, the majority declare them lawful on the strength of the recurring Qur’anic verse, while some have prohibited them on the basis of the report from Ibn ʿAbbās in which he said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the eating of every beast of prey with fangs and every bird with talons.”
This ḥadīth, however, was not recorded by al-Bukhārī or Muslim; it is mentioned only by Abū Dāwūd.
The second issue concerns their disagreement over domesticated hoofed animals—namely horses, mules, and donkeys. The majority of scholars hold the flesh of domesticated donkeys to be forbidden, except for what is reported from Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿĀʾishah, who permitted it, and from Mālik, who regarded it as merely disliked, though another narration from him agrees with the majority. The majority likewise prohibit the meat of mules, while others deemed it disliked but not forbidden; this too is narrated from Mālik. As for