Unfamiliar terms:
• ḍabb: pronounced with a fatḥa on the ḍād and a doubled bā; a desert-dwelling reptile that resembles the chameleon, commonly known as the spiny-tailed lizard.
• maḥnūdh: pronounced with a fatḥa on the mīm, a sukūn on the ḥāʾ, a ḍamma on the nūn, followed by a wāw and then a voiced dhāl. The word refers to meat roasted on stones that have been heated in the fire, a method still practised by Bedouin.
In the Ḥijāz this preparation is called muḍabbī, an accepted classical term. Ibn Fāris said, “The fire ḍabbat-hu (seizes it) when it roasts it.”
Lessons derived from the ḥadith
1- The narration proves the permissibility of eating ḍabb, evident from the question and answer—“Is it forbidden, Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “No”—and from his silent approval of Khālid ibn al-Walīd’s eating it while he looked on.
The conduct of the household also shows that its lawfulness was already assumed: they cooked it and served it. They informed him of its identity only so that he might avoid it if he personally disliked it. The scholars unanimously agree that eating ḍabb is lawful.
2- The Prophet’s ﷺ natural aversion to something does not render it unlawful, for such dislike is unrelated to the Sharīʿa and returns to individual taste and temperament.
3- The ḥadith highlights the Prophet’s ﷺ refined character: he never disparaged food. If it suited him he ate, and if not he simply left it without finding fault.
4- A person should not be compelled to eat what he does not desire or find palatable; food that one has no appetite for is not easily digested and may harm one’s health.
Hadith 8
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā said: “We campaigned with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in seven expeditions during which we ate locusts.”
Lessons derived from the ḥadith
1- The report establishes the permissibility of eating locusts. Imām al-Nawawī, may Allah have mercy on him, stated that this is a matter of consensus.
2- Locusts are lawful regardless of how they die, because the Prophet ﷺ said, “Two kinds of carrion and two kinds of blood have been made lawful for us: the carrion are locusts and fish, and the bloods are the liver and the spleen.”