Regarding foods, they adopted the position of the scholars of Kufa, because of the authentic reports from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibiting every fanged beast of prey, every bird with talons, and donkey meat. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) rebuked those who relied in this matter on the absence of an explicit prohibition in the Quran, saying:

“Let me not find any of you reclining on his couch when something I have commanded or forbidden reaches him, saying, ‘Between us and you is this Quran: whatever we find lawful in it, we regard as lawful, and whatever we find forbidden in it, we regard as forbidden.’ Indeed, I have been given the Book and its like along with it. Whatever the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has forbidden is just like what Allah Most High has forbidden.”

This teaching is reliably transmitted from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) through more than one chain.

They understood that what the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited constituted additional prohibitions, not an abrogation of the Quran. The Quran merely indicated that Allah had prohibited only carrion, blood, and pork. The absence of a prohibition is not a declaration of permissibility; it simply leaves matters as they were. Allah mentioned this in Sūrat al-An‘ām, which the scholars unanimously agree is Meccan—not, as the followers of Mālik and al-Shāfi‘ī supposed, among the last portions of the Quran to be revealed. Rather, it is Sūrat al-Mā’idah that was revealed later, and Allah said therein:

“All good things have been made lawful for you.”

It is thus clear that the absence of prohibition mentioned in Sūrat al-An‘ām is not a declaration of permissibility, but rather a matter left unprohibited. Thus, the prohibition laid down by the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) removes