Book of Foods
Chapter: Animals Whose Meat Is Lawful to Eat and Those Whose Meat Is Unlawful
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Chapter: Animals Whose Meat Is Lawful to Eat and Those Whose Meat Is Unlawful

The meat of the domesticated donkey is not lawful to eat. Ritual slaughter (dhakāh) has no effect on either its flesh or its hide, and anyone who wishes to use its skin in a state of purity must first tan it. According to Mālik, a wild donkey that has been tamed, put to work, and ridden may likewise not be eaten, for it has effectively taken on the status of a domesticated animal. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the consumption of domesticated donkeys; yet Mālik maintains that, in its original wild state, the wild donkey remains permissible to eat.

As a general rule, just as a normally domesticated animal remains lawful if it goes feral, so too a normally wild animal does not become unlawful merely because it is later tamed.

In Mālik’s view, eating horse-meat is disliked (makrūh) but not strictly forbidden. Mules may not be eaten, just as domesticated donkeys may not be eaten. Likewise, it is unlawful to eat the elephant, the mouse, and the wazagh (gecko). Nor may the flesh of any predatory beast that hunts with its fangs be consumed.