As for the wasilah: it was among sheep. When a ewe had borne seven litters, if the seventh was male, they slaughtered it, and both men and women ate from it. If it was female, they left it among the sheep. If it was a male and a female, they spared the male because of the female, saying, “She has joined her brother,” and so they did not slaughter him. The milk of the female was forbidden to women; but if any of them died, both men and women ate from it.

As for the hami: it was a breeding male whose grand-offspring had been used for breeding. It is also said that this was when it had sired ten litters. They would say, “Its back has been protected”; thus, it was neither ridden nor used to carry loads, and it was not kept from pasture or water. When it died, both men and women ate from it.

Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu'aymi narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn Sa'd narrated to us, from Salih ibn Kaysan, from Ibn Shihab, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, who said: “The bahirah was one whose milk was dedicated to false deities, so that no one among the people milked her. The sa'ibah was one which they set free for their gods, and upon which nothing was carried.”

Abu Hurayrah said: [The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “I saw Amr ibn Amir al-Khuza'i dragging his intestines through the Fire; he was the first to institute the sa'ibahs.” (1)

Muhammad ibn Ishaq narrated from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Taymi, from Abu Salih al-Samman, from Abu Hurayrah] (2), who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Aktham ibn Jawn al-Khuza'i: “O Aktham, I saw Amr ibn Luhay ibn Qam'ah [ibn Khandaf] (3) dragging his intestines through the Fire. I have never seen any man more like another man than you are like him, or he is like you.” This was because he was the first to alter the religion of Ishmael, set up idols, institute the bahirah and the sa'ibah, join the wasilah, and protect the hami. “I saw him in the Fire, harming the inhabitants of the Fire with the stench of his intestines.” Aktham said, “Will his resemblance to me harm me, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “No. You are a believer, whereas he was a disbeliever.” (4)

As for His saying, exalted is He, “Rather, those who disbelieve fabricate lies against Allah”: this refers to their claim that Allah had commanded them to do these things. “And most of them do not understand.”