no prohibition (31) nor permissibility is linked to it. The fourth condition is that the hunting animal must be trained. There is no disagreement regarding the consideration of this condition, because Allah the Exalted said: {And [lawfully are yours] the trained animals of prey which you have taught out of what Allah has taught you, so eat of what they catch for you}. Also, the aforementioned hadith of Abu Tha'labah (32). There are three conditions considered for its training: when he releases it, it goes forth, and when he commands it to stop, it stops, and when it catches something, it does not eat it. This is repeated by it time after time until it becomes trained according to custom; the minimum of this is three times. This was stated by al-Qadi, and it is the opinion of Abu Yusuf and Muhammad. The companions of al-Shafi'i did not specify a number of times, because specification requires a scriptural basis (tawqif), and there is no scriptural basis for this; rather, its measure is determined by what it becomes considered trained by in custom. It was narrated from Abu Hanifa that if it is repeated twice, it becomes trained, because repetition is achieved with two times. Sharif Abu Ja'far and Abu al-Khattab said: This is achieved once, and repetition is not considered, because it is the learning of a craft, so repetition is not considered in it, like other crafts. As for our evidence, its refraining from eating could be due to satiety, and it could be due to training, so that is not distinguishable except by repetition. That in which repetition is considered, is considered as three, like wiping in istijmar (cleaning oneself with stones), the number of menstruation periods (quru') (33) and witnesses in the waiting period (iddah), and the washings in ablution (wudu'). It differs from crafts, for one cannot perform them unless one has learned them, so if he performs them, it is known that he has learned and mastered them. Refraining from eating is possible for both the trained and the untrained, and is found in both groups, so one cannot be distinguished from the other until it is repeated. It was narrated from Rabi'ah and Malik that refraining from eating is not considered (34), based on what Abu Tha'labah al-Khushani narrated, who said: The Messenger of Allah - may Allah bless him and grant him peace - said: "If you release your trained dog and mention the name of Allah upon it, then eat, even if it has eaten." This was mentioned by Imam Ahmad, and recorded by Abu Dawud (35). As for our evidence, it is that the custom for a trained animal is to refrain from eating, so it is considered a condition, like stopping when commanded to stop. The hadith of Abu Tha'labah is countered by what was narrated from 'Adi ibn Hatim, that the Messenger of Allah - may Allah bless him and grant him peace - said: "If"