Islamic Fiqh > Foods and drinks > Divergent animals: donkey, horse, hyena, insects and poisons
Animals whose lawfulness differs among the schools: the domestic donkey, the horse, the hyena, the fox, insects and poisons.
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Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
Certain animals divide the schools. The encyclopedia treats them one by one, with the texts each side invokes.
Both gather the scholars' agreement on the prohibition, apart from a hesitation reported from Malik: on the day of Khaybar, the Prophet forbade mules and domestic donkeys without forbidding horses (Abu Dawud 3789 ; Ahmad 14945). The donkey's milk is forbidden by the majority, applying the principle that milk follows flesh; Ata, Tawus and al-Zuhri admitted it. The mule, engendered from the donkey, follows its verdict in the majority's view; Malik deems it severely disliked.
Abu Yusuf and Muhammad among the Hanafis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis permit its meat, based on the Khaybar hadith: « he forbade the flesh of donkeys and permitted the flesh of horses » (al-Bukhari 5201 ; Muslim 1941) and Asma's account: « we slaughtered a horse in the Prophet's lifetime and ate of it » (al-Bukhari 5192). Malik, and Abu Hanifa in one transmission, forbid it, invoking the verse that assigns horses, mules and donkeys to riding and adornment (an-Nahl 8).
The rule of predatory beasts (« every fanged beast », Muslim 1933) raises the hyena's case. Shafi'is, Hanbalis (in the mazhab for the hyena) and Malikis allow it: it does not stalk man; the Companions praised it (« the hyena is a sheep of the flock », Abu Hurayra). Hanafis and Hanbalis in one view forbid it as a fanged beast, as does the fox in the soundest view among the Hanbalis.
The dabb lizard is lawful for Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis: served at the Prophet's table, it was eaten in his presence; his words « eat, for it is lawful, yet it is not of my food » (Muslim 1943-1945) settle it. The Hanafis forbid it on another report (Abu Dawud 3796). Dog meat is forbidden among Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, as a fanged beast; the Malikis deem it disliked rather than forbidden in the retained view of their school.
The Malikis permit insects and snakes, based on Milqam ibn Talab's companionship: « I kept company with the Prophet and never heard an interdiction of the land insect » (Abu Dawud 3798). The majority (Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis) forbids them under the verse of « evil things » (al-A'raf 157). Deadly poisons are unanimously forbidden, by the verses « do not kill yourselves » (an-Nisa 29) and « do not cast yourselves into destruction » (al-Baqara 195).
The Malikis restrict no bird; Abu Bakr taught « all birds, every one of them ». The majority forbids the taloned bird, on the report attributed to Ibn Abbas « he forbade every taloned bird », which the Malikis contest in its chain, replacing it with the Quran's silence.
For each animal, the page restores the exact state of disagreement: unanimity governs the donkey, the mule, the dog and poison; the horse, the hyena, the dabb, insects and birds of prey remain school zones.