Selling Meat in Exchange for a Living Animal is Not Permissible

Written by: Imrān Ayyūb Lāhorī

Evidence from the Sunnah​

Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib رحمه الله said:


«أن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم نهى عن بيع اللحم بالحيوان»
“The Prophet ﷺ forbade selling meat in exchange for a living animal.”
(Ḥasan: Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl: 1351, 5/198; al-Muwaṭṭaʾ: 2/655; Abū Dāwūd in al-Marāsīl: p. 21; al-Dāraquṭnī: 3/71; al-Ḥākim: 2/35; al-Bayhaqī: 5/296)

Explanation by Nawāb Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān رحمه الله​

The best interpretation of this ḥadīth is as follows:
A person says to a butcher, “How much meat will come from this goat?” The butcher replies, “Twenty ratls.” The buyer then says, “Take this goat in exchange for twenty ratls of meat. If more comes out, it is yours; if less, it is still upon you (and I am not responsible).”


This is essentially a form of gambling.
[al-Marwadhah al-Nadiyyah: 2/240]

Opinions of the Scholars​

• Mālik, Aḥmad (and in one narration from al-Shāfiʿī):
  Selling meat for a living animal is not permissible.
• Abū Ḥanīfah:
  This sale is permissible without restriction.
• Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī:
  Permissible if the meat is predominant in value/quantity.

References: al-Mughnī: 6/90; al-Inṣāf: 5/23; al-Umm: 3/98; al-Ḥāwī: 5/157; al-Mabsūṭ: 12/180

Preferred (Rājiḥ) Opinion:​

If the ḥadīth is authentic, then acting upon it is correct.