and its “shoes” are its hoofs, on which it walks. Thus the camel goes down to the water and grazes on trees until its owner comes for it.

Accordingly, you are not permitted to shelter such an animal or to pick it up—even if you mean well—except in two situations:

1. You are travelling through a land roamed by highwaymen and fear they will seize the beast and deprive its owner of it; in that case, there is no harm in taking it.
2. You know who the owner is and take the animal solely in order to return it to him; this, too, is unobjectionable.

2. The second category comprises animals that cannot protect themselves from small predators—those unable to free themselves, such as sheep, goats, and the like. These you may take, in accordance with the Prophet’s words, peace and blessings be upon him: “It is yours, or your brother’s, or the wolf’s.” You must then search for the owner. His statement “it is yours” applies only if, after diligent inquiry, you fail to find the owner; and “or the wolf’s” means that if no one finds the animal, a wolf will devour it.

Such livestock may therefore be collected, and one must actively look for the owner. If a full year passes without locating him, ownership transfers to the finder.

Announcing a lost animal (inshād al-ḍāllah) has two distinct senses:

1. The first is the one we have just described, and this is an obligation.
2. The second is prohibited—namely, what people sometimes do inside mosques when they call out for their missing animal, saying, for example, “Who has seen such-and-such?” or “O people…”