Section: Regarding the sale of leeches (al-'alaq) (10) that are utilized, such as those placed on the face of someone with melasma (11) to suck blood, and worms left on a fishhook to catch fish, there are two opinions. The most correct of them is that their sale is permitted due to the benefit derived from them; they are like fish. The second is that it is not permitted because they are not utilized except rarely, so they resemble things that hold no benefit.

Section: It is permitted to sell silkworms and their eggs (bizr) (12). Abu Hanifa said, in a report from him: If there is silk with the silkworms, its sale is permitted, otherwise not; because the silkworm itself is not utilized, so it is like insects. It is also said: The sale of its eggs is not permitted. Our position is that the silkworm is a pure animal, and it is permitted to keep it for the purpose of possessing what it produces; it resembles livestock. Furthermore, the worm and its eggs are pure and utilized, so their sale is permitted, like cloth. His statement that 'it is not utilized in itself' is invalidated by livestock, from which no benefit is obtained except for the offspring, and it is distinct from insects which have no benefit at all, for the benefit of these is great, as silk—which is among the most noble of worldly garments—is obtained from them.

Section: It is permitted to sell bees if one observes them confined in such a way that they cannot escape. Abu Hanifa said: It is not permitted to sell them separately, for the reason he mentioned regarding silkworms. Our position is that it is a pure animal from whose bellies comes a drink containing benefits for people, so it is permitted to sell it, like livestock. Our colleagues differed regarding their sale while in their hives. Al-Qadi said: It is not permitted because it is not possible to observe all of them, and because they are never free of honey which would be sold with them, and that is unknown. Abu al-Khattab said: It is permitted to sell them in their hives or separately from them, for it is possible to observe them in their hives if the top is opened, and one can know their abundance or scarcity; the concealment of some of them does not prevent the validity of its sale, just like a pile of grain (subra), or as if it were in a container, for some of it is over the rest and only the exterior is seen. The honey enters the sale as a secondary inclusion, so its uncertainty causes no harm, like the foundations of walls. If it is not possible to observe the bees because they are hidden by their combs and are not known, it is not permitted to sell them due to their uncertainty.