Source: Urdu Commentary of ‘Umdat al-Aḥkām from the Sayings of the Best of Mankind
Translator: Ḥāfiẓ Faizullah Nāṣir
Narrated by Abū Qatādah al-Anṣārī (رضي الله عنه):
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out for Hajj, and the people set out with him. He sent a group ahead, including Abū Qatādah, and instructed them: “Take the coastal route until we meet.”
So they followed the coastal route. Upon their return, all of them donned the iḥrām except Abū Qatādah. While they were traveling, they saw some wild donkeys, so Abū Qatādah attacked one of them and slaughtered a female donkey. They camped and ate its meat. Then a concern arose:
“Have we consumed game while in the state of iḥrām?”
So they took the remaining meat with them to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about it. He ﷺ inquired:
“Did any of you instruct him to hunt it, or signal towards it?”
They replied, “No.”
He ﷺ then said:
“Then eat what remains of its meat.”
In another narration, he ﷺ asked:
“Do you have any of it with you?”
I replied, “Yes.”
So I handed him the shoulder (of the animal), and he ate from it.
Vocabulary Explanation:
If a person is not in the state of iḥrām, and no muḥrim assisted or provoked the act of hunting, then the hunted animal is permissible for those in iḥrām. This is clearly established in the narration above.
References:
Narrated by Ṣa‘b ibn Jaththāmah al-Laythī (رضي الله عنه):
He gifted a wild donkey to the Prophet ﷺ while he was at Abwā’ or Waddān, but the Prophet ﷺ returned it to him.
When he noticed sadness on Ṣa‘b’s face, he ﷺ said:
“We only returned it because we are in the state of iḥrām.”
Muslim records different wordings:
– "The leg of a donkey"
– "The side of a donkey"
– "The hindquarters of a donkey"
Explanation of the Ḥadīth:
At the end of the ḥadīth, the Prophet ﷺ clarified the reason for returning the gift:
He ﷺ suspected the game might have been hunted on his behalf. Since it is not permissible for a muḥrim to eat game that was hunted because of him, he ﷺ did not accept it.
Narrator Background:
Ṣa‘b ibn Jaththāmah (رضي الله عنه) was a Madanī Companion. He narrated sixteen aḥādīth from the Prophet ﷺ. He passed away in Kūfah during the era of Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq.
References:
Translator: Ḥāfiẓ Faizullah Nāṣir
Narrated by Abū Qatādah al-Anṣārī (رضي الله عنه):
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out for Hajj, and the people set out with him. He sent a group ahead, including Abū Qatādah, and instructed them: “Take the coastal route until we meet.”
So they followed the coastal route. Upon their return, all of them donned the iḥrām except Abū Qatādah. While they were traveling, they saw some wild donkeys, so Abū Qatādah attacked one of them and slaughtered a female donkey. They camped and ate its meat. Then a concern arose:
“Have we consumed game while in the state of iḥrām?”
So they took the remaining meat with them to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about it. He ﷺ inquired:
“Did any of you instruct him to hunt it, or signal towards it?”
They replied, “No.”
He ﷺ then said:
“Then eat what remains of its meat.”
In another narration, he ﷺ asked:
“Do you have any of it with you?”
I replied, “Yes.”
So I handed him the shoulder (of the animal), and he ate from it.
Vocabulary Explanation:
- Ḥumur Waḥsh: Plural of ḥimār wāḥish – wild donkeys.
- Atān: Refers to a female donkey.
- ‘Aqar: He cut the tendons or legs. (Third person masculine, past tense, known verb form from ḍaraba yaḍribu)
If a person is not in the state of iḥrām, and no muḥrim assisted or provoked the act of hunting, then the hunted animal is permissible for those in iḥrām. This is clearly established in the narration above.
References:
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Ḥajj, Hadith: 1824
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Ḥajj, Hadith: 1196
Narrated by Ṣa‘b ibn Jaththāmah al-Laythī (رضي الله عنه):
He gifted a wild donkey to the Prophet ﷺ while he was at Abwā’ or Waddān, but the Prophet ﷺ returned it to him.
When he noticed sadness on Ṣa‘b’s face, he ﷺ said:
“We only returned it because we are in the state of iḥrām.”
Muslim records different wordings:
– "The leg of a donkey"
– "The side of a donkey"
– "The hindquarters of a donkey"
Explanation of the Ḥadīth:
At the end of the ḥadīth, the Prophet ﷺ clarified the reason for returning the gift:
He ﷺ suspected the game might have been hunted on his behalf. Since it is not permissible for a muḥrim to eat game that was hunted because of him, he ﷺ did not accept it.
Narrator Background:
Ṣa‘b ibn Jaththāmah (رضي الله عنه) was a Madanī Companion. He narrated sixteen aḥādīth from the Prophet ﷺ. He passed away in Kūfah during the era of Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq.
References:
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Ḥajj, Hadith: 1825
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Ḥajj, Hadith: 1193
