2390 — “He forbade eating spiny-tailed lizard.”

It was recorded by Abu Dawud (2/143), al-Fasawi in al-Tarikh (2/318), al-Tabari in Tahdhib al-Athar (1/191/311), al-Bayhaqi (9/326), and Ibn ‘Asakir (9/486/1), through Isma‘il ibn ‘Ayyash, from Damdam ibn Zur‘ah, from Shurayh ibn ‘Ubayd, from Abu Rashid al-Hubrani, from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Shibl, tracing it back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

Al-Tabari said: “It is not established.” Al-Bayhaqi explained this by saying: “Isma‘il ibn ‘Ayyash is alone in narrating it, and he cannot be cited as proof. What has preceded regarding its permissibility is sounder than it.” He meant the hadiths of Ibn ‘Imran and Ibn ‘Abbas in the two Sahihs and elsewhere, concerning the account of Khalid ibn al-Walid eating spiny-tailed lizard, while the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, refrained from it and said: “Eat, for it is not forbidden and there is no harm in it; however, it is not among the food of my people.” It was narrated by the two Shaykhs and others, and is cited in Irwa’ al-Ghalil (2498).

There is no doubt that this is sounder than the hadith under discussion. Yet this does not necessitate deeming the latter weak, if it has no defect apart from Isma‘il ibn ‘Ayyash. For he himself is trustworthy. The hadith scholars regarded him as weak when reporting from non-Syrians, but deemed him trustworthy when reporting from Syrians; and all the narrators of this hadith are Syrians. Al-Hafiz said: “He is truthful when reporting from the people of his own land, but confused when reporting from others.”

This distinction was upheld by leading hadith authorities such as Ahmad, al-Bukhari, Ibn Ma‘in, Ya‘qub ibn Shaybah, Ibn ‘Adi, and others. They are the principal basis for what al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said concerning him. Al-Dhahabi states likewise in al-Mughni.