5. Game taken by an untrained dog is unlawful unless the hunter reaches it while the animal is still alive and performs the required ritual slaughter before it dies.

6. The manner in which a hunting animal is trained according to the Hanbali school:
   • If the hunter is a dog, cheetah, or any other predator with fangs, three conditions must be present:

   1. It is released and rushes forth when sent.
   2. It desists when recalled.
   3. It does not eat the prey after seizing it.

   • If the hunter is a bird of prey—such as a falcon or a goshawk—only two conditions are required:

   1. It flies off when released.
   2. It desists when recalled; refraining from eating the quarry is not stipulated.

   Some scholars leave the definition of “training” to accepted custom: whatever people generally regard as a properly trained animal that knows the etiquette of the hunt is deemed trained and its quarry is lawful, and whatever they do not regard as such is not. This is a sound view, because the Lawgiver referred to training in unrestricted terms, and whatever the Law leaves unrestricted is determined by customary usage.

7. The superiority of knowledge over ignorance: the prey of a trained dog has been made lawful, whereas the prey of an untrained dog has not—showing that knowledge is preferred even in the case of animals. Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, made this observation.

Hadith Two

Hammām ibn al-Hārith relates from ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim who said: “I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I dispatch my trained dogs and they seize the game for me, and I pronounce the name of Allah.’ He replied, ‘When you dispatch your trained dog, mentioning Allah’s name over it, eat whatever it holds for you.’ I asked, ‘Even if they kill it?’ He said, ‘Even if they kill it, so long as no other dog that is not theirs has joined them.’ I asked, ‘I sometimes shoot game with the miʿrāḍ (a featherless arrow) and hit it; what then?’ He said, ‘If you shoot with the miʿrāḍ and it pierces, then eat it; but if it strikes with its broad side, do not eat it.’”

Hadith Three

In the narration of al-Shaʿbī from ʿAdī, which conveys the same meaning, it states: “Unless the dog eats from it; if it eats, do not eat, for I fear it only held it for itself. And if other dogs not belonging to you mingle with it, then do not eat, for you mentioned Allah’s name over your own dog and did not mention it over the others.”

It also contains: “When you dispatch your mukallab (trained) dog, mention the name of Allah over it. If it holds the prey for you and you reach it alive, slaughter it; but if you find it already dead and the dog has not eaten from it, then eat it, for the very seizing of the dog is its slaughter.”

It further states: “When you shoot your arrow, pronounce the name of Allah over it.”

And it goes on: “If the game disappears from you for a day or two—in another version: for two or three days—and you find on it nothing but the mark of your arrow, then eat it if you wish. But if you find it …”