Land Animals With Blood, and What Comes Next

The second of the three land categories is termed damawī, "with blood" — from dam, blood — as against the bloodless category already given, though, as he qualifies it, this is blood that does not flow out. Here too the term is not a strict scientific one: some snakes, for instance, carry more blood than most other reptiles, and yet snakes are classed here regardless. This classification will not be found as such in biology; there has been an effort, among those working on this material, to supply these creatures with their proper scientific names, so that Islam is not mistaken, on this account, for a backward religion — but the terms themselves belong to books written for the ordinary village person with no schooling in the subject, in the plainest terms available, rather than to technical science, and deserve to be read with that in mind. Snakes, other reptiles, porcupines, moles, rats, ferrets, mice, weasels and other such animals fall under this category and are ḥarām. Even so, were a person facing death — the very last resort, with nothing else available, and a roasted rat set before him — he would be permitted, even obliged, to eat it: refusing food to the point of death is itself suicide, and death by one's own hand leads to the fire. Under such circumstances, and only for as long as the danger lasts, the ruling changes temporarily, enough to eat a little and stay alive.

The two land categories just given — reptiles, rodents, and the animals without blood — are, in truth, of little daily relevance: the chance of anyone actually eating a mole, a snake or a porcupine is close to none, however informative it is to understand the principle behind the ruling. What follows is of far greater relevance to daily life — the meat that is actually eaten, horse and camel among it, and the methods by which meat of any kind is made lawful. The whole purpose of acquiring this knowledge is to avoid falling into what is ḥarām, in any of its forms.

May Allah (swt) increase this beneficial knowledge, and increase understanding of the fiqh of the dīn, so that whenever something is heard to be ḥarām, the reason behind it — the ʿillah, the ḥikmah — is understood at once, and draws the heart closer to Allah (swt). Whatever Islam names ḥarām carries some harmful effect on the body, the intellect, the person, the family, or whatever else Islam holds sacred — nothing is declared ḥarām without a reason behind it. May Allah (swt) increase sincerity, beneficial knowledge, and good deeds; may He increase certainty in Him; may He number His servants among His chosen ones and among the ummah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); may He make every believer, and those they love, neighbours of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on the Day of Judgement; and may He grant the vision of His own beauty from the highest garden of Paradise, by His leave. Subḥānaka Allāhumma wa biḥamdika, ashhadu an lā ilāha illā anta, waḥdaka lā sharīka laka, astaghfiruka wa atūbu ilayka. Subḥānaka lā ʿilma lanā illā mā ʿallamtanā, innaka anta al-ʿAlīmu al-Ḥakīm.