Tirmidhi

Explanation:
1:
Since it is not certain that the animal is pregnant, and there is doubt regarding whether conception has occurred or not, for this reason the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade taking payment for it.

Hadith Commentary:
The situation is as follows: a herdsman, due to his need, asks another herdsman for a bull, and the latter does not give the bull without taking a fee, but rather charges rent for it. This form of leasing is impermissible and unlawful.

However, to lend a male animal as a loan (ariyah) is permissible, because if this too were declared impermissible, there would be a risk of the lineage coming to an end. Similarly, if the owner of the female animal, without any condition, gives something as a gift to the owner of the male animal, then there is no objection in accepting it. However, to charge a fee for mating is unlawful, because it is not known whether the female will conceive from the mating or not. Moreover, the semen of the animal is not something of value, nor is its giving within anyone’s control.

(Fath al-Bari: 4/582)

Benefits and Issues:
Benefit:
Those who raise livestock know that in pastures, herds upon herds graze and animals mate in a natural manner. The wage or price for this act cannot be fixed, nor is it permissible to prevent animals from natural mating for the purpose of collecting a fee. The blessed hadith indicates that it is the right of female animals that male animals mate with them. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith: 988) This is what is indicated here. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade taking a price or demanding a fee for this. However, when a Companion insisted and asked that when we take our male animal (upon request), we are honored there and some gift is presented to us, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) permitted this. From this permission, it is understood that apart from formal buying and selling, the customary exchange that exists for the convenience of animal keepers is not intended to be abolished so as to disrupt the system.

Outside of pastures, sometimes male animals are not easily available. Considering this situation, Imam Malik permitted it to prevent the loss of lineage. (Fath al-Bari: 4/582) Since animal owners have become aware that the birth of good breeds is necessary for obtaining milk and other benefits, the demand for good-breed males has increased. In fact, now the modern method of artificial insemination has become prevalent. Now, good-breed males are raised for this very purpose, expenses are incurred on them, and their semen is used for artificial breeding. If, instead of fixing a formal price or wage for this, the method of exchange under the guise of honor is adopted, then there will be no objection to this in Shariah.

The earlier jurists and commentators have mentioned the reason for not taking a wage or price for the act of mating as follows: that the thing for which the wage is being taken, neither its quantity can be determined, nor is its provision guaranteed. Therefore, it would be a wage for something unknown and uncertain, which Islam does not permit. If this reason for prohibition is accepted as correct, then due to artificial methods, it is no longer an unknown or uncertain matter. Through modern techniques, a specified quantity of the male animal’s semen is inserted into the womb of the female animal. In this way, the permissibility of a wage can also arise.

This point is important in itself: whether artificial insemination itself is permissible in Shariah or not? Its permissibility can be inferred from the hadith about pollination (placing the male date palm’s pollen on the female date palm to produce fruit). When the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) came to Madinah, he naturally disliked this artificial method of increasing yield and forbade it, but when it became known that this reduced the yield of dates, he formally permitted it. According to this hadith, there is permission to use the method of delivering the male’s semen to the female by artificial means.

The statement of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) calls for promoting natural methods instead of commercial ones. It is the duty of Muslim governments, for the purpose of public welfare, to arrange for the maximum number of high-breed male animals so that high-breed animals can be obtained through natural means, and people are saved from the compulsion of arranging this on a commercial basis.

The indication given by the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) regarding the rights of animals is an excellent example of rifq bil-hayawanat (kind treatment of animals). The way to fulfill these rights is also that governments should arrange for high-breed male animals on a large scale.