by releasing and manumitting, just as if one released a camel or a cow. It is possible that ownership ceases, because the principle is permissibility, so releasing returns it to its original state. It differs from livestock (bahimat al-an'am) in two respects: first, the principle here is permissibility, whereas livestock is the opposite. Second, releasing here is beneficial, as it is the return of the game to freedom from the possession and confinement of humans. It is for this reason that it was narrated from Abu al-Darda' that he bought a sparrow from a boy and released it. It is obligatory for the pilgrim (muhrim) to release game when he enters into ihram or enters the Haram while it is in his possession, unlike livestock, for releasing that would be a waste of it, and it might perish if there is no one to look after it.

1716 - Issue: He said: (And whoever is on a boat, and a fish jumps and falls into his lap, it belongs to him, not the owner of the boat.)

This is because a fish is among the permissible game, which is owned by being the first to reach it. This one ended up in the hand of the person in whose lap it fell, and his lap is his, and his hand is upon it, to the exclusion of the owner of the boat. Do you not see that if they were to dispute over a bag in his lap, he would be more entitled to it than the owner of the boat? The same applies here. The understanding of al-Khiraqi’s statement is that if the fish fell into the boat, it belongs to its owner. Ibn Abi Musa mentioned this because the boat is his property and his hand is upon it, so whatever of the permissible game ends up inside it, he is more entitled to it, like his lap.

Section: If the fish jumped due to the act of a human for the purpose of hunting, such as a fisherman who puts [a light in the boat at night and strikes something like a bell so that the fish jump into the boat], then this belongs to the hunter, not the one in whose lap it fell; because the hunter secured it by that means, so it becomes like someone who shoots a bird and it lands in the courtyard of some people. If he did not intend to hunt by this, but it happened by coincidence, it belongs to the one in whose lap it fell.

1717 - Issue: He said: (And fish are not to be hunted with anything impure.)

The meaning of this is that something impure, such as human excrement, carrion, or their likes, is left in the water so that