Reports on the dabb (desert lizard)

Nafi' narrates from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the lizard (dabb), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I neither eat it nor declare it unlawful."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the lizard (dabb), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I do not eat it, nor do I declare it unlawful."

Tawbah al-Anbari (may Allah have mercy on him) says: Al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) said to me: Have you seen al-Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) when he narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? I sat with Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) for nearly two years and did not hear him narrate from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), except that one day he said: Some people from among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), among them Sa'd bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), were eating a lizard (dabb) while sitting with him (peace and blessings be upon him). One of the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called out that it was lizard, so the people stopped eating. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Eat, for it is not unlawful and there is no harm in it, but it is not the food of my people."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates from Sayyiduna Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him), or Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas and Sayyiduna Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with them both) both came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at the house of Sayyidah Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her), and a roasted lizard (dabb) was presented before them. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) extended his hand, and the women present in the house of Sayyidah Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "Tell the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that this, which he intends to eat, is a lizard." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) withdrew his hand. I asked: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), is it unlawful?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is not unlawful, but it is not found in my land, so I kept away from it." Then Sayyiduna Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) pulled it in front of himself and ate it, while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was watching him.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), together with Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him), came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at the house of Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her); then he mentioned the hadith in the same way.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says: Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) and I entered the house of Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); then he mentioned the hadith in the same way.
It seems that Malik was in doubt about it; the correct version is the narration of al-Qa'nabi and those who corroborated him.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Sayyiduna Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) were in the house of Sayyidah Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) when lizard (dabb) meat was brought to them. Sayyidah Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Tell the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) what it is. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was told that it was lizard, he (peace and blessings be upon him) left it. Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: O Messenger of Allah, is it unlawful? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is not unlawful, but I keep away from it." Then Sayyiduna Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) took its bones and began sucking them.

Al-Shaybani narrates from Yazid bin al-Asamm: At a wedding in Madinah we were given food, which we ate; after that thirteen lizards (dabb) were presented before us; some ate them and some left them. In the morning I came to Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) and asked, saying that after the food thirteen lizards had been presented before us, and some ate them and some left them. Someone sitting with Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had said: "I do not eat it, but I do not declare it unlawful either; I neither order it to be eaten nor forbid it." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Evil is what you say! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent only as one who declares things lawful and unlawful. Lizard meat was presented to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) extended his hand to eat it, but Sayyidah Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "O Messenger of Allah, this is lizard meat." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) drew back his hand and said: "I have never eaten this meat; you eat it." So al-Fadl bin Abbas and Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with them both) and a woman who was with them ate it. Sayyidah Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The food that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not eat, I did not eat either.

Sa'id bin Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that Ibn Abbas's maternal aunt, Umm Hufayd (may Allah be pleased with her), gave the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cheese, ghee and lizards (dabb) as a gift. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ate the cheese and the ghee and left the lizards. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says: The lizard was eaten at the dining cloth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); had it been unlawful, it would not have been eaten at his (peace and blessings be upon him) dining cloth.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that a bowl containing lizards (dabb) was brought to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Eat; I keep away from it."

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that a lizard (dabb) was brought to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) refused to eat it and said: "I do not know; perhaps it is from the earlier nations that were transformed."
(b) This hadith is like the hadiths of Sayyiduna Ibn Umar and Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) in that he (peace and blessings be upon him) refrained from eating it; it mentions another reason for refraining besides aversion, and it also adds something that indicates it is permissible.

Abu al-Zubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) says: I asked Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) about the lizard (dabb), and he said: "Do not eat it," and he disliked it. The narrator says that Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not declare it unlawful, for Allah Almighty benefits some people by it, since this is indeed the food of the common people; had I had some, I would have eaten it."

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) says that a man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): We live in a land full of lizards (dabb); what do you command us? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have been told that a nation of the Children of Israel was transformed into animals, and I do not know which animal it is." He (peace and blessings be upon him) neither commanded him to eat it nor forbade him from it.

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) says that after that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: Allah will benefit some people by it, for it is the food of the common people. Had I had some, I would have eaten it; but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) left it out of dislike.

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that a Bedouin said to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): I live in an orchard where lizards (dabb) are found, and this is also the food of my family. He (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent. He asked a second and a third time, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Bedouin, Allah became angry with two tribes of the Children of Israel and transformed them into animals that crawl on the earth. I do not know whether this is one of them. I neither command you to eat it nor forbid you from it."
(b) Abu Aqil (may Allah have mercy on him) relates that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I neither eat it nor forbid you from it."

Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Hasanah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: We became hungry on a journey, so we camped at a place where lizards (dabb) were plentiful, and the cooking pots were boiling with lizard meat. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A nation of the Children of Israel was transformed, and I fear that this may be from it." So we overturned the pots.

Sayyiduna Thabit bin Wadi'ah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that a lizard (dabb) was brought to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is from the nations that were transformed, and Allah knows best."
(b) In the narration of Ubaydullah: A lizard was brought before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is from a transformed nation; Allah knows best."
Al-Bukhari said: The hadith of Thabit bin Wadi'ah is more authentic, and there is reservation (nazar) about the hadith itself.

Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) says that a lizard (dabb) was given to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as a gift, which he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not eat. I asked: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), shall we feed it to the poor?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not feed them what you yourselves do not eat."
Only Hammad bin Abi Sulayman narrated it with a connected chain (mawsul); it is also reported from him from Ibrahim from Aishah as mursal.

Ibrahim narrates from Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that a lizard (dabb) was given to Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) as a gift, which I presented to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not eat it. I asked: O Messenger of Allah, shall we give it to the one who begs? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What we ourselves do not eat, we will not feed to them either."
Note: Whatever a person does not like to eat himself, he should not feed to the poor either.

Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Shibl (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade eating lizard (dabb).
Isma'il bin Ayyash is alone in narrating this, and he is not a proof (hujjah); what has preceded regarding its permissibility is more authentic than it.

Nafi' narrates from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I would love to have white wheat bread moistened with ghee and milk." So a man from among the people brought it and presented it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "In what was this ghee kept?" He said: In a skin container made of lizard (dabb) hide. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Take it away."
Abu Dawud recorded it in his Sunan and said: This is a munkar (rejected) hadith.

Abu Ishaq (may Allah have mercy on him) says: I was with Abd al-Rahman bin Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah have mercy on him) when a son of his came; I think it was al-Qasim. He asked (his son): "Did you get any of what you need today?" Some of the people asked: What does he need? He said: "I have not seen a boy who eats more lizard (dabb) than him." Some of the people said: Is it not unlawful? He asked: What has made it unlawful? They said: Did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) not dislike it? He said: Does a person not dislike a thing even though it is not unlawful? And he said: Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The one who makes the lawful unlawful is like the one who makes the unlawful lawful.