Question:
Is the rabbit haram or halal? Most members of my household follow the Ja’fari sect. They say that the appearance and sound of the rabbit resemble those of the cat, and since the cat is haram, the rabbit is also haram.
Answer:
According to the evidence of the Qur’an and Sunnah, the rabbit is a halal animal; there is no aspect of prohibition in it. The Prophet ﷺ prohibited, among birds, those that hunt with their talons, and among animals, those that tear with their fangs and rend with their claws, as beasts of prey.
The rabbit is not a beast of prey that tears. Imam al-Muhaddithin, Sayyid al-Fuqaha, Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned a hadith, narrated from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him):
“We chased a rabbit in Marr al-Zahran (a place name); the people ran after it but tired and fell behind. Finally I caught it and brought it to Abu Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him). He slaughtered it and sent its hindquarters or thighs to the Prophet ﷺ, and he accepted it.”
Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) also mentioned this narration elsewhere in his Sahih (2572), in which it is also stated that Hisham ibn Zayd asked Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): “Did the Prophet ﷺ eat from it?” He said: “He ate from it.” Then he said: “He accepted it.” Imam al-Qastallani (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote in Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari (292/8): “The position of the four imams on the permissibility of the rabbit is also this, and the hadith on this chapter is a proof for the majority of muhaddithin regarding the permissibility of the rabbit.”
Sayyiduna Ubayy ibn Ka’b (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “A Bedouin came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with a roasted rabbit and bread. He placed it before the Prophet ﷺ and then said: I have seen it menstruating. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to his companions (may Allah be pleased with them): Eat it, there is no harm. The Prophet ﷺ also said to the Bedouin: Eat. He said: I am fasting. He said: Which fast? He said: Three fasts every month. The Prophet ﷺ said: If you are fasting, then fast the Ayyam al-Bidh (that is, the fasts of the 13th, 14th and 15th of the moon).”
Some people consider it disliked because it menstruates, and their basis is weak and rejected narrations, whereas the sahih hadith mentioned above shows that its menstruation was mentioned, yet the Prophet ﷺ said: “Eat it, there is no harm.” People declare it haram due to its resemblance to the cat, but this is not evidence of prohibition, since the form and appearance of many permissible things resemble those of impermissible things. Something is haram only if it is based on the evidence of the Qur’an and Sunnah; halal and haram are not established by running the intellect in speculation.
