As for foxes, their ruling is based on their lawfulness, and there are two narrations regarding them; likewise, the ruling for their skins is derived accordingly. If we say they are forbidden, then the ruling of their skins is the same as the ruling of the skins of other predatory animals, as is the case with wild cats. As for domestic cats, they are forbidden, and whether their skins are purified through tanning is derived from two narrations.

Section: If we say that skins are purified by tanning, the skin of an animal that was not pure during its lifetime is not purified [and what was pure during its lifetime is purified] (23). Ahmad explicitly stated that it is purified.

Some of our companions said: Only that which is edible (meat) is purified. This is the school of al-Awza’i, Abu Thawr, and Ishaq, because it was narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, that he said: "The tanning of the hide is its dhabh (slaughtering/purification) (24)." He likened tanning to slaughtering, and slaughtering only functions on animals whose meat is eaten. Furthermore, it is one of the purifiers of the skin, so it has no effect on non-edible animals, just like slaughtering (25).

The apparent meaning of Ahmad’s words is that everything that is pure during its lifetime is purified by tanning, due to the generality of his wording regarding that, and because his saying, peace be upon him: "Any hide that is tanned is purified," encompasses both edible and non-edible animals. What was excluded from this is what was impure during its lifetime, because (26) tanning only serves to remove the impurity that occurs due to death; therefore, everything else remains subject to the general rule.

Their hadith is open to the interpretation that he intended by "dhabh" (slaughter) the concept of "al-tatyib" (making pleasant/perfuming), from their saying: "ra'ihatun dhakiyyatun" (a fragrant/pleasant scent), meaning pleasant; and this makes everything pleasant. What points to this is that he attributed the "dhabh" to the skin specifically, and what is specific to the skin is making it pleasant and pure. As for the "dhabh" which is the slaughtering, it is not attributed to anything except the entire animal. It is also possible that he intended by "dhabh" purification, calling purification "dhabh"; thus, the expression would be general for every skin, encompassing that which we disagreed upon.