made from an animal that died without lawful slaughter.’ He said, ‘Tanning a hide takes the place of lawful slaughter.’” Narrated by Imam Ahmad, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Nasā’ī.

As for the hadith of Ibn ‘Ukaym, some have challenged it because its bearer was unknown and on similar grounds that do not justify rejecting the hadith. ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Ukaym said:

“A letter from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) reached us a month or two before his death, instructing us not to make use of either the hides or sinews of animals that had died without lawful slaughter.”

Narrated by Imam Ahmad, who said, “What a good chain of transmission it has!” It was also narrated by Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah, al-Nasā’ī, and al-Tirmidhī, who said, “It is a good hadith.”

Some answered this by explaining that ihāb (hide) denotes a skin before tanning, as reported by al-Nadr ibn Shumayl and other lexicographers. After tanning, it is called adīm (leather), so the prohibition would concern using hides before tanning.

Those who maintain the prohibition replied that this interpretation is weak, since one version of the report reads:

“The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) wrote to us while we were in the territory of Juhaynah: ‘I previously permitted you to use the hides of animals that had died without lawful slaughter. But when this letter of mine reaches you, do not make use of either their hides or their sinews.’”

Al-Tabarānī narrated this in al-Mu‘jam al-Awsat through Fadālah ibn Mufaddal ibn Fadālah al-Misrī. Abū Hātim al-Rāzī judged him weak, although Abū Hātim is stringent in accrediting narrators. If the prohibition came after the permission, that permission had applied only to tanned hides.

The precise answer is that the hadith of Ibn ‘Ukaym contains no prohibition against using tanned hides. As for the earlier permission, it has been said that it applied to tanned hides