He said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Prohibited for you are domestic donkeys, their horses, and their mules" (18). And also because it is a beast that lacks a hoof, so it resembles the donkey. Our position is based on the statement of Jabir: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prohibited the meat of domestic donkeys on the day of Khaybar and permitted the meat of horses. Asma' said: We slaughtered a horse during the time of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and we ate it while we were in Medina. This is agreed upon (19). Also, it is a pure and pleasant animal, not possessing fangs (20) or claws, so it is lawful, like the grazing livestock. Furthermore, it is included in the generality of the verses and reports that permit [meat]. As for the verse, they rely on the implication of its phrasing (dalil al-khitab), and they themselves do not accept such an argument. As for the hadith of Khalid, it does not have a sound chain of narration. Ahmad said this, and added: It contains two men who are not known; it is narrated by Thawr from a man who is not known. He said: We shall not abandon our traditions for the sake of such a rejected (munkar) hadith.

Section: The rabbit is permissible. Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas ate it. Abu Sa‘id, ‘Ata’, Ibn al-Musayyib, al-Layth, Malik, al-Shafi‘i, Abu Thawr, and Ibn al-Mundhir granted a concession for it. We know of no one who pronounced it prohibited, except for something narrated from ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (22). It is confirmed on the authority of Anas that he said: We startled (23) a rabbit, and the people pursued it until they became exhausted (24), so I caught it. I brought it to Abu Talha, and he slaughtered it and sent its hind leg—or he said: its thigh—to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and he accepted it. This is agreed upon (25). And on the authority of