for her to spread silk upon the ground. This view is stronger than the opinion that silk is unconditionally permissible for women, because every legal ruling turns upon its effective cause: wherever the cause exists, the ruling applies, and where it is absent, it falls away.

We now turn to his words, “and proclaiming the stray-animal.” Among the Prophet’s instructions is that when a person finds a stray beast he must announce it—that is, publicly seek its owner. A stray (ḍāllah) is an animal that has become lost, and the jurists have divided such animals into two categories.

1. The first category consists of creatures that can fend for themselves against wolves and other small predators. It is unlawful to pick these up or to shelter them; whoever does so is himself a “strayer.” Examples include:
   – animals that protect themselves by their sheer size and strength, such as camels;
   – birds that escape by flying away, like falcons and pigeons;
   – animals that escape by swift running, such as gazelles.

Any beast that can ward off small predators—whether by size, by flight, or by speed—must not be collected or taken in. Rather, one should drive it away from one’s own camels or from one’s dovecote if it seeks refuge there. When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was asked about a stray camel, he said: “What have you to do with it? It has its water-skin and its shoes; it goes down to the water and eats the trees until its owner finds it.” Its “water-skin” means its belly, which it fills with water,