34/1 — (Ibn Abbās said: “The people of the Age of Ignorance used to eat certain things and refrain from others out of disgust. Then Allah sent His Prophet and revealed His Book, making lawful what He had permitted and forbidding what He had prohibited. Whatever He made lawful is lawful, whatever He prohibited is prohibited, and whatever He left unmentioned is pardoned.” He then recited: “Say, ‘I find nothing in what has been revealed to me that is forbidden for anyone to eat…’”—to the end of the verse. Abū Dāwūd narrated it from him as a statement attributed only to Ibn Abbās.) p. 50; The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, 12th ed., p. 54.

Authentic. Abū Dāwūd recorded it in the Book of Foods (2/319, al-Halabiyyah ed.) by way of Amr ibn Dīnār, from Abū al-Sha‘thā’, from Ibn Abbās, with the same wording.

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic; all its narrators are trustworthy.

Amr also has another chain for it. He said: I said to Jābir ibn Abd Allah, “They claim that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade the meat of domesticated donkeys on the day of Khaybar.” He replied, “Al-Hakam ibn Amr used to relate that from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. However, that learned scholar—meaning Ibn Abbās, may Allah be pleased with them both—would not accept it, and he recited: ‘Say, “I find nothing in what has been revealed to me that is forbidden for anyone to eat…”’—to the end of the verse. It then continues: ‘The people of the Age of Ignorance used to…,’” and he related the report.

Al-Hākim recorded it (2/317) and said:

“Authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.”

Al-Dhahabī agreed with him, and it is as he said.

The hadith was also recorded by Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn Abī Hātim, Abū al-Shaykh, and Ibn Mardawayh, as cited in al-Durr al-Manthūr (3/50).

(Note) Al-Hākim recorded it by way of al-Humaydī, who said: Sufyān narrated to us; Amr ibn Dīnār narrated to us—with the same report. I found the hadith in Musnad al-Humaydī, no. (859), with this chain, but there it reads, “I said to Jābir ibn Zayd,” in place of “Jābir ibn Abd Allah.” Likewise, al-Bukhārī recorded it (9/538–539) from his shaykh, Alī ibn Abd Allah—namely, Ibn al-Madīnī—who said that Sufyān narrated it to them with the same chain, but without the words, “The people of the Age of Ignorance used to…” It thus became clear to me that “Jābir ibn Abd Allah” is an error, perhaps introduced by one of the transmitters of al-Mustadrak or by one of its copyists, and perhaps