Ruling on eating the meat of mountain goats and wild cattle
Question What is the wisdom behind eating the meat of mountain goats and wild cattle? Is the basic principle behind it that it is permissible or allowed?. Praise be to Allah. The basic principle with regard to land animals is that it is permissible to eat them unless there is evidence to show that it…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
The basic principle with regard to land animals is that it
is permissible to eat them unless there is evidence to show that it is
prohibited.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The
basic principle with regard to food is that it is permissible, except that
for which there is evidence that it is prohibited. If we are uncertain about
something, whether it is halaal or haraam, the basic principle is that it is
permissible unless we find proof that it is prohibited.
The evidence for that is the verse in which Allah says
(interpretation of the meaning): “He it is Who
created for you all that is on earth” [al-Baqarah 2:29].
That includes everything on earth, animals, plants, clothing and so on.
And Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “He it is
Who created for you all that is on earth” [al-Jaathiyah 45:13].
Based on that, the basic principle with regard to all animals
is that they are permissible unless there is evidence to prove that they are
prohibited.
End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb, 11/116
It was narrated that there was consensus among the scholars
that it is permissible to eat wild cattle.
It says in al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah (5/134): Every
wild animal that does not have fangs with which it kills prey and is not
vermin – animals such as gazelles, wild cattle, wild donkeys (onagers), and
wild camels – are permissible according to the consensus of the Muslims,
because they come under the heading of that which is good (al-tayyibaat).
End quote.
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Mountains goats
are halaal, and there is no difference of opinion concerning that.
End quote from al-Majmoo‘, 9/9
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Wild cattle
are all permissible, of all types, including wild goats, mountain goats,
wild cattle and other types of game. They are all permissible, and there is
scholarly consensus on all of that; we do not know of any difference of
opinion concerning it. (9/327).
So it is permissible to eat it because it comes under the
heading of al-tayyibaat (that which is good, i.e., halaal), and it does not
come under the category of fanged predators or vermin.
And Allah knows best.
