Hadith No. 45

On the authority of Jabir (ra) that he heard the Prophet (sas) in Mecca the year of the liberating of Mecca saying:

"Allah and His Messenger forbid the selling of alcoholic drinks dead animals (without being killed Islamically), pigs and idols."

It was said to him (sas): "O Allah’s Messenger, what about the fat of the dead animals -–it is used for coating boats, oiling leather and the people burn it in their lamps?

He (sas) said: "No, it is haram." Then, the Prophet (sas) said: "May Allah fight the Jews: Allah forbid them the fat, so they liquefied it, sold it and ate (consumed) its value."

Muslim and Bukhari

1. This prohibition was announced right after the prohibition of riba (interest) by Allah in the Qur’an. From Muslim: When the verse at the end of Al-Baqarah regarding interest was revealed, the Prophet (sas) went out to the mosque and forbid doing business in alcoholic drinks.

2. Wine was spilled in the streets of Madinah. Also from Muslim (from Abi Said): The Prophet (sas) said: "Allah has forbidden alcoholic drinks. Whoever this verse reaches while they still possess any of it, they are not to drink nor to sell."

3. Also from Muslim: Once a man gave the Prophet (sas) a gift of wine. He (sas) said to him: "Did you know that Allah has forbidden it?" The man said: "No." Then, he asked another man to sell it for him. The Prophet (sas) said to him: "That which has been forbidden to drink is forbidden to sell." And so the man opened the container and spilled it out.

4. In another hadith: "Whenever Allah forbids something, He forbids its value (i.e., money obtained by selling it).

5. Items the use (or the normal intention of whose use) is haram are of two types:

a) Those which are used but not destroyed by their use. Examples include the idols mentioned in the hadith – there is not bigger haram than taking intermediaries and intercessors with Allah. Along with this is anything whose use is something haram such as books of witchcraft, fortunetelling, innovation, etc. Also musical instruments and anything whose only or whose major use is in something forbidden.

b) That which is destroyed by a single use such as pigs, alcoholic drinks, dead animals, etc. Again, if the intended use of these items is haram, selling them is also haram.

6. About the Prophet’s (sas) statement in the hadith: "No, it is haram.", the scholars differed about this as follows:

a) The meaning is that the uses described by the questioner are themselves haram. In this case, their sale is obviously haram since there is no single legitimate use of these items.

b) Other said that the meaning here is that the SALE of these items is forbidden, even though the uses described by the questioner are legitimate.

7. Is it allowed to make use of the fat of dead animals? Three of the four imams said no, it is haram.

8. What about the other parts of the dead animal? Whatever has been found to be clean (not najis), is lawful to be used and sold. This includes the horns, hair and skin (some scholars require that it be tanned first). One evidence for this is the hadith in Bukhari: "The only thing forbidden from the dead animal is eating it." Also, the Prophet (sas) informed us that tanning is a purification of such skin (not including pigs).

9. Selling dogs is forbidden, even though it lawful to benefit from them only for hunting or guarding property. From Muslim: "The most evil earnings are the fees of a prostitute, the selling price of a dog and the fees of the bloodletter."

10. Most scholars forbid the selling of dogs absolutely and that is the apparent meaning of the above hadith. Some allowed the sale of dogs whose use is lawful such as hunting dogs and guard dogs (and seeing eye dogs by analogy). There is no authentic evidence from the sunnah to support this.

11. What is the cause of this prohibition?

a) Because it is unclean (najis)

b) Because most of its uses are forbidden and it has only been allowed in cases of necessity of need. (Even pig can be eaten by one who will starve otherwise, but this did not cause its sale to be allowed.

c) Because it is a lowly thing and easily obtained so its sale was prohibited so that those who have simply help out those who need it for a lawful purpose.

12. Other animals. The scholars have put forth many opinions about the lawfulness or lack thereof of selling other animals such as bears, elephants, cats, etc. The bottom line here is that in the absence of any evidence about these things, they remain lawful to own and sell based on the principle of the innate lawfulness of all that Allah created for us in this earth except where the Shari’a has stated otherwise.