Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (3/562)

Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-ṢāliḥīnIbn al-'Uthaymin

When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came to stay with Saʿb as a guest, Saʿb felt that no one could honor a guest more generously than he. He therefore went out to hunt some game for the Prophet and succeeded in bringing down a wild onager. At that time the Arabian Peninsula still teemed with wildlife, though it has since grown scarce. He brought the animal to the Prophet, but the Prophet returned the gift. This was difficult for Saʿb to accept—why would the Prophet refuse his present? His face showed his disappointment. When the Prophet noticed this, he reassured him and said, “We have only turned it back because we are ḥurum (pilgrims in ihram).” A muhrim is not permitted to eat game that has been hunted specifically for him.

Accordingly, if a muhrim were to pass by you in your own town while he is in ihram and you went out to hunt—or slaughtered an animal you had—for his sake, it would not be lawful for him to eat from it, for he is forbidden to consume anything taken on his account. If, however, you did not hunt it for him in particular, the correct view is that it is permissible for him, provided it was not taken for his benefit.

This is why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ate from the game hunted by Abū Qatādah—may Allah be pleased with him—because Abū Qatādah had not hunted it on the Prophet’s behalf. The best ruling in this matter, therefore, is that when game is hunted expressly for the muhrim it is unlawful for him, but if someone hunts for himself and later offers some to the muhrim, there is no objection.

Some scholars have nevertheless argued that a muhrim may not eat game under any circumstances, whether or not it was hunted for him. They reason that the ḥadīth of Saʿb ibn Jathamah is later than the ḥadīth of Abū Qatādah: the narration of Abū Qatādah occurred at the expedition of al-Ḥudaybiyah in the sixth year AH, whereas the narration of Saʿb ibn Jathamah took place during the Farewell Pilgrimage in the tenth year AH; thus, in their view, the later report supersedes the earlier one.

فلما نزل به النبي ﷺ ضيفاً رأى أنه لا أحد أكرم ضيفاً منه، فذهب يصيد للرسول ﷺ صيداً، فصاد له حماراً وحشياً وكان في الجزيرة العربية في ذلك الوقت كثيرٌ من الصيد، لكنها قلت صاد له حماراً وحشياً وجاء به إليه فرده النبي ﷺ فَصَعُبَ ذلك على الصعب؛ كيف يرد النبي ﷺ هديته؟ فتغير وجهه، فلما رأى ما في وجهه طيب قلبه وقال: ((إنا لم نرده عليك إلا أنا حُرم)) يعنى محرمون، والمحرم لا يأكل من الصيد الذي صيد من أجله. فلو أن محرماً مر بك وأنت في بلدك وهو محرم وصدت له صيداً أو ذبحت له صيداً عندك، فإنه لا يحل له أن يأكل منه، وذلك لأنه ممنوع من أكل ما صيد من أجله، أما إذا لم تصده من أجله، فالصحيح أنه حلال له إذا لم تصده لأجله. ولهذا أكل النبي ﷺ من الصيد الذي صاده أبو قتادة ﵁؛ لأن أبا قتادة لم يصده من أجل الرسول ﷺ، وهذا أحسن ما قيل في هذه المسألة، إنه إذا صيد الصيد من أجل المحرم كان حراماً عليه، وإن صاده الإنسان لنفسه وأطعم منه المحرم فلا بأس. قال بعض العلماء: إن المحرم لا يأكل من الصيد مطلقاً؛ صيد من أجله أم لم يصد، قالوا لأن حديث الصعب بن جثامة متأخر عن حديث أبي قتادة، فإن حديث أبي قتادة كان في غزوة الحديبية في السنة السادسة، وحديث الصعب بن جثامة في حجة الوداع في السنة العاشرة، ويؤخذ بالأخر فالآخر.