- Horse-meat is lawful because the animal is wholesome and pure; God willing, the opinions of those who disagreed will be discussed below.
- Wild donkeys are likewise lawful, for they belong to the category of good, permissible game; they are the animals nowadays called al-waḍīḥiyyāt.
Disagreement among the jurists
Abū Ḥanīfah—and, in some of his statements, Mālik—held that eating horse-meat is prohibited; in other statements they deemed it merely disliked. Some of their followers opted for prohibition, others for dislike. They argued on the basis of the following points:
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The words of the Exalted: “And [He created] horses, mules, and donkeys for you to ride and as adornment” (Q 16:8).
• The verse couples horses with mules and donkeys, the latter being unlawful to eat.
• The preposition li- in “li-tarkabūhā” (“so that you may ride them”) conveys causation, indicating that they were created for no other purpose; a stated rationale implies restriction, so declaring them edible contradicts the apparent sense of the verse.
• Moreover, the verse is framed as a mention of Divine favour; had eating them been a benefit, that favour would have been mentioned all the more. -
The report transmitted by al-Ṭaḥāwī and Ibn Ḥazm from Jābir: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the meat of horses and mules”; and the narration recorded in the Sunan collections from Khālid ibn al-Walīd: “On the day of Khaybar the Prophet ﷺ forbade the meat of horses.”
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The close similarity between horses and domestic donkeys calls for extending the donkey ruling to horses.
Al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, al-Layth, Ḥammād, and Abū Thawr, however, ruled horse-meat permissible, as did Ibn al-Zubayr, al-Ḥasan, Ibn Sīrīn, ʿAṭāʾ, al-Aswad, and Ibn al-Mubārak.
They based their view on the numerous, well-authenticated hadiths and reports that establish its permissibility—proofs strong enough to overturn every contrary argument. They also pointed out that this was the universal practice of the Companions: several Successors reported their consensus on its permissibility without excluding anyone.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, with a chain sound by the standards of the two Ṣaḥīḥs, relates that ʿAṭāʾ said to Ibn Jurayj, “Your predecessors never ceased eating it.” Ibn Jurayj asked, “Do you mean the Companions?” He replied, “Yes.”
They responded to the Ḥanafī and Mālikī proofs as follows: The noble verse furnishes no evidence here, for it is Makkan