Meat (lahm), fiqh rulings

Lahm, in lexicon, is the flesh of an animal or bird, the soft muscular part between the skin and the bone; the core of anything is also its lahm; its plurals are luhum, lihām and lahman. Taʿam, food, is wider, since it is anything eaten ¹.

Meat is lawful unless a specific text forbids it. The jurists rest this on the verses that God created all that is on earth for mankind and made the good things lawful, which are in the surah of the Cow (verse 29) and the surah of the Heights (verse 157), cited here without quoting them ^{1 2}.

The jurists agree generally that what is cut from a living lawful animal, other than wool and hair, is as carrion and is not eaten, on the hadith that what is cut from a beast while it is alive is carrion ².

The Hanafis forbid eating meat that has stunk, since it harms rather than being impure; the Hanbalis in the school do not dislike it; the Shafi'is dislike the flesh of a jallala that gives off a stench ². Meat cooked in an impure liquid is not purified for the Hanafis, the preferred Maliki view and the sounder Hanbali view; a Maliki view and a Hanbali narration hold it is purified; the Shafi'is hold washing enough, and Abu Yusuf boils it three times with drying between ^{2 3}.

Eating camel flesh does not break ablution for the Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is and a Hanbali narration, on the hadith of Jabir that the last of the two orders was leaving ablution after what fire has touched; it does break it for the Hanbalis in the school, the old Shafi'i view and Ibn Khuzayma, on the hadith of Jabir ibn Samura (may God be pleased with him) that the man should perform ablution after camel meat ³.

It is a sunna for the one who sacrifices to eat from his sacrifice, give some, and keep some, the best being to give away a third, give a third as a gift, and keep a third. Vowed sacrifices may not be eaten by the Hanafis and Shafi'is, but the Malikis and Hanbalis allow it ³. Most jurists recommend cooking all the aqiqah meat, while the Hanafis allow distributing it raw or cooked ³.

The Shafi'is, Hanbalis and a Maliki view allow horse meat, on the hadith of Jabir that the Prophet ﷺ forbade the flesh of domestic donkeys on Khaybar and allowed horse meat; the Malikis in their school forbid it, and the Hanafis forbid it in their settled opinion ^{3 4}. The flesh of domestic donkeys is forbidden to the Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and the preferred Maliki view; a second Maliki view allows it with dislike ⁴.

Pork is forbidden by agreement, on the verse of the surah of Cattle (verse 145), cited without quoting ⁴. The Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbid mule meat out of caution, as it is born of two parents, one lawful and one not; the Hanafis follow the mother; the Malikis follow the mother with some differences ⁵. Dog meat is forbidden to the Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and the view of Ibn Abd al-Barr among the Malikis, on the hadith that every animal with fangs that preys is forbidden; another Maliki view says it is disliked ⁵.

The jurists agree that eating human flesh is forbidden outside necessity, on the verse of the surah of the Night Journey (verse 70), cited without quoting it; the case of the necessitous is in the entry on necessity ⁵.

In general, washing the hands after a meal is recommended, on the hadith that whoever sleeps with greasy hands and is harmed has only himself to blame; the Malikis also recommend rinsing the mouth, citing the Prophet's rinsing after sawiq ^{5 6}. One who swears not to eat meat breaks his oath, according to the Hanafis and Malikis, by eating fat and the like, but not according to the Shafi'is and Hanbalis ⁶. Selling meat for a live animal of the same kind is forbidden by the Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, on the hadith forbidding the sale of an animal for meat; the Hanafis allow it ⁶. Salam in meat is valid for the Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad if its kind, type and quality are fixed; Abu Hanifa forbids it for ignorance ⁶. Meat for meat depends on whether meat is one genus or several, detailed in the entry on riba ⁶.