Mention of Buffalo in Islamic History
There is no doubt that during the era of the Prophet, peace be upon him, there is no mention of buffalo because buffalo had not yet been introduced there at that time. However, buffalo breeds were found in other countries and regions, such as Africa, Asia, and Egypt, etc. Accordingly, Dr. Abdul Ghani Abu al-Azm states: Jamus (Buffalo) plural: جواميس : . . . من كبار البقر ، وهوأنواع : داحن ووحشي ، يوجد بإفريقيا واسيا
Jamus, Jamusah: whose plural is Jawamis… These are among the large cattle, and there are many types: domestic and wild. These are found in Africa and Asia.
Allama Muhammad bin Abdul Haq Yafrani writes:
وأما ”الجواميس“ فإنها نوع من البقر فى ناحية مصر تعوم فى النيل ، وتخرج إلى البر ، ولكل بقرة منها قرن ، واحد ، والواحد منها : جاموس
Buffaloes: They are a type of cow found in the regions of Egypt, floating and roaming in the Nile, and also coming out on land. Each of these cows has one horn (called Koban), and it is called a single buffalo.
However, studying the books of history and biography shows that after the era of the Companions, buffaloes existed in some form. Our predecessors were familiar with them and raised them in thousands like cows and bulls. [As Umar Raza Kahalah Mashqi رحمه الله wrote in Mu’jam Qaba’il al-Arab, among the tribes of the Bilqa region of the Levant, there was a tribe named “Al-Jamus.” The original name of the tribe’s ancestor was Ahmad. They migrated from the Golan to Bilqa. Since they owned very large herds of buffaloes in Baqar al-Jawa, they were called Jamus, and their descendants were known as Jawamis. Their settlements still exist in the Tabarbur area. See
], buffaloes were used for sacrifice and many other purposes, for example, their milk was drunk, their milk was used to treat diseases like Tathkhaj, gifts were given, and benefiting from their strength, they were released in large numbers on roads and forests to drive away wild animals. Below are some references from Islamic history:
(1) It is narrated from Ali رضي الله عنه that he said:
الجاموس تجزي عن سبعة فى الأضحية [
. This narration was also quoted by the author of Al-Mar’ah, the Sheikh of Hadith رحمه الله during the discussion,
. The well-known Da’i and author Sheikh Muhammad Munir Qamar حفظه الله comments on this hadith: This hadith is narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib رضي الله عنه and was mentioned by Shir and Yah ibn Shahrdar Yalimi in “Al-Firdaws” 2272. Yalimi mentioned the hadiths in this book without chains of narration. Later, his son Shahrdar ibn Shirwah narrated most of these hadiths with chains in Musnad Al-Firdaws and added some hadiths. However, almost half of it is missing, so nothing definite can be said about the chain of this hadith. But to consider it weak, it is enough that Yalimi clearly stated in the introduction that not all narrations in “Al-Firdaws” are weak and unreliable; rather, there are authentic hadiths as well. See: Suway Harim Bas 404.]
The sacrifice of a buffalo suffices for seven people.
(2) In the previous pages, the Tabi‘in, the Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in, and the subsequent Imams such as Hasan al-Basri, Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Abu Ubaid Qasim ibn Salam, likewise Imam Malik, Imam Shafi‘i, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Sufyan ibn Sa‘id al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on them, have been mentioned as having ruled that zakat is obligatory on buffaloes according to the nisab of cows.
(3) Abu Nu’man Antaki states that the middle path between Antioch and Massisa was a habitat for lions and other beasts. It was impossible for people to pass through there. When Walid bin Abdul Malik complained about this to Caliph Al-Mu’tasim Billah, he sent four thousand buffaloes and bulls in that direction, by which Allah resolved the issue and the beasts were eliminated from there.
Also, in Sindh, Muhammad bin Qasim, the governor appointed by Hajjaj bin Yusuf, sent several thousand buffaloes from Sindh, among which four thousand were sent by Hajjaj bin Yusuf to Walid, and the remaining buffaloes were released into the forests of Kaskar. Additionally, Yazid bin Abdul Malik also sent four thousand buffaloes for Massisa, so in total, eight thousand buffaloes were sent to Massisa.
(4) While discussing the causes of the decline and deterioration of the Umayyad Caliphate, Ali Muhammad Muhammad Salabi writes:
During this period, the production of animals and livestock had greatly decreased, especially the animals used for cultivation,
due to which the authorities in Iraq were compelled to issue an order that cows should not be slaughtered. At the same time, Iraq did not import a large number from the Sindh region in order to control the shortage of draft animals.
Similarly, during the reign of Caliph Abdul Malik bin Marwan, some measures were taken to ease the difficulties of agriculture in the region. For example, Hajjaj bin Yusuf transferred a number of farmers from the country of Sindh along with their homes and buffaloes to his own land and settled them in a barren and deserted area, which they cultivated.
(5) Abdullah bin Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) [
and it is clear that in some narrations this incident is attributed to Ubaidullah’s brother Abdul Rahman bin Abu Bakr, in which it is explicitly stated that Imam Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) came to him and said that a person from my tribe has contracted such and such disease. Abdul Rahman was born in 14 AH and died in 99 AH. See:
, whereas Muhammad bin Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) was born in 20 AH and died in 110 AH. See:
]
He was a very pious and generous person, who spent a lot throughout the year on forty neighbors on all four sides of his house, right, left, front, and back. On the occasions of Eid, he gave gifts, clothes, and sacrificial animals, arranged marriages for the poor, even paying the dowries, and besides the whole year, on every Eid he would free one hundred slaves.
Isma’i narrates on the authority of Abu Mahroom that a person from ‘Atik’s tribe in Khubar contracted epilepsy. Some people from his tribe came to Ubaidullah ibn Abu Bakr, may Allah have mercy on him, and said: One of our companions has epilepsy, and a physician prescribed continuous drinking of buffalo milk for some days as treatment. I learned that you have buffaloes, so they asked their agent Lutf how many buffaloes he had. He said: Three hundred. They said: Give all these buffaloes to him! He replied: We do not even have that many; what should we do? We only need one buffalo as a loan, which we will return after the treatment. He said: We do not lend buffaloes; rather, all these buffaloes are a gift for your patient.
(6) Arrival of Buffaloes in the Land of Sham:
The famous historian Hussein bin Ali Masudi has mentioned two dates regarding the arrival of buffaloes in the land of Sham:
1. Firstly, during the caliphate of Yazid bin Abdul Malik (101-105 AH), buffaloes came to the land of Sham and its coasts. These buffaloes originally belonged to the people of Mahlab who lived in Basra, Bataih, and Rutuf, etc. But when Yazid killed Ibn Mahlab, many buffaloes were transferred to their areas.
(2) The second opinion is that buffaloes first came to the land of Sham during the caliphate of Mutasim (218-227 AH), when Mutasim took control of Zutt and exiled them from there, driving them through Khorasan and Ain Zarba to Nain and Jalula, etc. From that time, buffaloes entered the land of Sham; before that, buffaloes were not known there.
(7) The Ancient Arrival of Buffaloes in the Country of Yemen:
Ustad Hasan Abdullah Qureshi writes in his article:
Allah Almighty had bestowed upon the Arab countries before Islam, in regions like Yamama, lush lands and vast pastures. Accordingly, the German traveler Schunifert observed that wheat, barley, buffaloes, goats, rams, and other livestock were found in Yemen and ancient Arab regions in their natural state at that time, whereas they were not familiar in Egypt and Iraq.
(8) Bishr or Basheer Tabari or Tabrani had approximately four hundred buffaloes. The Romans raided their four hundred buffaloes and drove them away. Their slaves informed them of this and said the buffaloes are gone. They said, “Go, all of you are free for the sake of Allah.” The price of those slaves was one thousand dinars! Upon hearing this, their son said: “Father! You have made us poor and destitute!” He said: “Son, be silent. Allah tested me, so I wanted to make more sacrifice in the way of Allah and show gratitude to Him.”
(9) In the year 270 AH, Ahmad ibn Tulun, may Allah have mercy on him, passed away. It happened that he had traveled from Egypt and Syria to Tartus, and on his return, when he reached Antioch, he was offered buffalo milk. He drank a large quantity of the milk, which caused his stomach to bloat and severe indigestion, leading to his death. His rule lasted approximately twenty-six years, and after his death, his son Khumarawayh took over the position of emir.
(10) Ustadh Labeeb Syed writes in his article titled “Import and Export in the Islamic System”:
The import and export of livestock in the Islamic system is an ancient practice. For instance, Egypt used to import many livestock from Barqa for sacrifice, as is still the case today. Iraq imported horses from Arab countries, especially from the region of Hasa. Similarly, in the fourth century Hijri, buffaloes were imported from India.
(11) Umar bin Ahmad ibn al-Adim, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote about the period of Saad al-Dawla Hamdani’s rule in Aleppo (356 to 381 AH): If a Roman entered the Islamic government, he was not prevented from fulfilling his needs, but if a buffalo from the Islamic country went to the Roman country, it was confiscated.
(12) Umar bin Ahmad ibn al-Adim, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote in the fifth century Hijri that a plague spread so extensively in Tiberias that in the month of Rajab of the year 457 AH alone, four thousand people died, and deaths in other months were in addition to this.
In the same year, a large group of Turks set out; some of them stayed in Daluk, and about a thousand people advanced further. They completely looted the city of Antioch and took away nearly forty thousand, or even more, buffaloes, to the extent that buffaloes were being sold for one dinar, and at most for two or three dinars. Cows, goats, donkeys, and maidservants were so numerous that they could not be counted. Maidservants were being sold for two dinars, and children were being sold in exchange for a horseshoe nail.
(13) Shah Afzal passed away in the year 515 AH. After his death, he left behind a great fortune, which included millions of dinars and dirhams, several thousand silk garments, and five hundred chests full of personal clothes. There were slaves, horses, mules, and perfumes in quantities known only to Allah. There were also so many buffaloes, cows, and goats that it is shameful to describe. The income from milk from these animals alone was thirty thousand dinars in the year of Afzal’s death.
(14) Allama Zain al-Din Ibn Shaheen Hanafi Zahiri writes in the events of the year 890 AH:
In Dhu al-Qi’dah of the year 890 AH, a very large number of cows, buffaloes, and camels died. It seemed as if some epidemic had entered among them, especially the buffaloes.
(15) Allama Abdul Rahman Jibraqi, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote in the year 1188 AH about the life of a pious woman that she used to send two bowls of Thareed every night of Ramadan to jurists, orphans, and the poor and needy, and during Eid al-Adha, she used to give them three buffaloes.
And in the year 1225 AH, it is written that the ruler of the time used to buy buffaloes and rams on the day of Eid al-Adha for the mosque’s teachers and students, and after slaughtering them, he would distribute them among the poor and employees.
In summary, in almost every era of Islamic history and the history of Islamic rulers, there is mention of buffaloes, their breeding and rearing, and various ways of benefiting from them. And Allah knows best.
