The Kangaroo, the Koala, and the Rules of the Hunt

Is it permissible to eat a kangaroo? Definitely, yes. Kangaroos are among the animals that "cut," as he puts it — the animals that, having first consumed their food, bring it up again after a while and begin chewing it again, like the cows. And there is the matter of the claws, which the sharīʿah defines in a more particular way: kangaroos are not like the beasts of burden, the donkey or the horse; they have claws, but the claws are not for killing another animal in order to eat it. They feed only on grass; they are like the sheep, like the camels and the cows. No ʿālim, no scholar of any kind, has ever been heard to say that kangaroo meat is not ḥalāl. As long as it is slaughtered properly, in the name of Allah (swt), or hunted properly — with permission, of course, doing everything rightly by the law — it is permissible to consume kangaroo meat; and kangaroo meat, by his own account, he has eaten himself, and there is nothing wrong with it. Koala meat, on the other hand, is to be kept away from.

The hunting rules are treated in their place, but the question arises here: when hunting, how is an animal caught — a wild beast, a deer for example, venison? A person has a gun in his hand, a shotgun. It is not a computer game; it is not that easy; that is a living thing. So when he shoots, what does he do? By the time he reaches the animal, it may be dead. If, on reaching the animal, it is still breathing, then regardless of how it was shot he must make zabīḥah: Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar. But if it is dead by the time he reaches it, what then? The scholars say that when shooting, the bullets to be used for hunting — for ḥalāl consumption — are loaded with Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar: as each is put in, Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar; Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar; Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar — the gun loaded up with Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar. For in the moment of shooting a person is very excited, and forgets; but the bullets have all been loaded with Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar, and they are good. So the animal is shot — no problem — and the hunter goes and finds it; if it is dead, it is dead, and if not, zabīḥah is made. The forms of slaughtering, even in Australia — the so-called ḥalāl meat slaughtering establishments and abattoirs, from the mushroom gun, to shooting the animal dead, to electric shocks and whatever else — are looked at in more detail in their place.

May Allah (swt) put barakah into this learning, and put barakah into every life; may He increase beneficial knowledge, increase righteous deeds — al-aʿmāl al-ṣāliḥah — increase ikhlāṣ and sincerity, increase fiqh and understanding, and increase yaqīn; and may He make His servants good Muslims, sincere Muslims, conscientious Muslims, learned Muslims, who are serious about their decision for Islam, and who become practising Muslims.