Consecrated Livestock

The bahira, sa'iba, wasila and ham were livestock that the people of the Jahiliyya held in honour, forbidding themselves any benefit from them in devotion to their idols. In The Sealed Nectar this is the sixth of the rites of idol worship, and the Qur'an denounced it ^{1 2}.

The author quotes Ibn Ishaq. The bahira is the daughter of the sa'iba: it is a she-camel that gives birth to ten females in succession with no male among them. She is let loose, her back is not ridden, her wool is not shorn, and her milk is not drunk except by a guest. Whatever she bears afterwards of a female has its ear split, and then she is let go with her mother; that is the bahira bint al-sa'iba. The wasila is a ewe that gives birth to ten females in succession across five litters with no male among them; it was called wasila, and they said, "She has connected." What was born after that went to the males among them and not to the females, unless something died, in which case the males and females shared its meat. The ham is a stallion that has produced ten females in succession with no male among them. Its back is protected, it is not ridden, its wool is not shorn, and it is let loose among the camels to mate; no benefit is taken from it other than that ^{1 2 3}. Other explanations of these animals have also been given ².

God revealed about this al-Ma'ida 103 and al-An'am 139 ². Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab stated that these animals belonged to their idols (tawaghit). In Sahih al-Bukhari, traced to the Prophet ﷺ, 'Amr ibn Luhayy is the first to have let the sawa'ib loose ^{2 4}.

"Other explanations of these animals have been given": the other commentators' views on the bahira and the sa'iba have not yet been added.