2673. If a hunting dog hunts a wild animal that is lawful to consume, then there are six conditions for that animal to be §¡hir and lawful for consumption. These are:
1. The dog should be trained in a manner that whenever it is sent to hunt, it should go, and whenever it is restrained, it should stop. In addition, based on obligatory precaution, it should have a habit of not eating the prey until its owner reaches it. However, if it has the habit of consuming the blood of the prey, or rarely eats from the prey, there is no problem in it.
2. It should be directed (to hunt the animal). Hence, if the dog hunts the animal of his own accord, and preys on it, it is forbidden to consume that animal. In fact, if it goes hunting of its own accord, and then its owner hollers at it so that it hastens towards the prey, based on obligatory precaution one should refrain from eating the prey even if the dog hastens to the animal on account of its master’s voice.
3. The person who sends the dog should be a Muslim, or the child of a Muslim who is able to discern between good and evil. Hence, if a k¡fir, a n¡¥ibi, a kh¡riji or a gh¡li who is considered a k¡fir sends the hunting dog, the prey hunted by the dog will be unlawful for consumption.
4. The person should invoke the name of God when sending the dog. If he intentionally fails to invoke the name of God, the prey will be unlawful. However, if he forgets, there is no problem in it.
5. The prey should die on account of the wound it incurs from the teeth of the dog. Hence, if the dog suffocates the prey, or if the prey dies on account of running or being exhausted, it will not be lawful for consumption.
6. The person who has sent the dog should reach the prey after it has died, or if it is alive, there should not be sufficient time to slaughter it, given that he has not been negligent in the delay. Therefore, if he reaches the animal whilst there is adequate time to slaughter it, and he fails to do so, it will not be lawful for consumption.
2674. If the person who sent the dog reaches the prey whilst there is adequate time to slaughter it, however owing to the process of retrieving the knife or similar action which does not entail any negligence, time passes and the animal dies, it will be lawful for consumption. However, if he does not have a tool in his possession by which he can slaughter the animal, and the animal dies, it will not be lawful. However, if he unleashes the dog during this time so that it may kill the animal, it will be lawful for consumption.
2675. If a person unleashes multiple hunting dogs to hunt an animal, then if all of them possess the conditions elaborated in article 2673, the prey will be lawful for consumption. However, if even one of them is devoid of those conditions, the prey will be unlawful for consumption.
2676. If a person sends a dog to hunt a particular animal, and the dog hunts another animal, then the hunted prey will be §¡hir and lawful for consumption. Similarly, if the dog hunts that animal along with another animal, both of them will be §¡hir and lawful.
2677. If a number of people send the dog for hunting, and one of them is a k¡fir or is subject to the rules of a k¡fir, the prey will be unlawful for consumption. Similarly, if some of them intentionally fail to invoke the name of God, or if one of the dogs that has been unleashed has not been trained in the manner described in article 2673, the prey will be unlawful for consumption.
2678. If a hawk or any animal other than a hunting dog, hunts an animal, the prey will not be lawful for consumption. However, if they reach the animal whilst it is alive, and they slaughter it in a manner that has been prescribed by the shari’a, it will be lawful.
2679. If a fish with scales is acquired from the water alive, and it dies outside the water, it is §¡hir and lawful to consume. However, if it dies in the water, it is §¡hir, but consuming it is forbidden, unless it dies in the fishing nets which are in the water, in which case it is lawful for consumption. As for fish without scales, they are unlawful for consumption even if they are acquired from the water alive, and they die outside the water.
2680. If a fish springs out of the water, or a wave throws it out, or the water recedes and the fish remains on dry land, then if a person acquires it with his hands or anything else before it dies, it is lawful to consume after it dies.
2681. The fisherman does not have to be a Muslim, nor does he have to invoke the name of God. However, a Muslim should have witnessed it as it was being acquired, or acquire certainty through some means, or possess a proof authorized by the shari’a that it was acquired from the water alive, or it died in the water inside the fishing nets.
2682. If it is not known whether a dead fish was acquired from the water alive or dead, it is lawful for consumption if it is in the hands of a Muslim. However, if it is in the hands of a k¡fir who has not acquired it from a Muslim, it is not lawful to consume even if he says that it was acquired alive, unless a proof or a trustworthy person that one does not entertain a conjecture that is contrary to his claim, says that it was acquired from the water alive.
2683. It is permissible to eat a live fish, although the precaution is that one should avoid doing so.
2684. If a fish is roasted alive, or it is killed outside the water before it dies (naturally), it is permissible to consume it. However, the recommended precaution is that one should avoid eating it.
2685. If a fish is cut into two parts outside the water, and one part falls into the water whilst the fish is alive, then based on obligatory precaution, it is not permissible to eat the part that has remained outside the water.
2686. If a locust is acquired alive using one’s hands or any other tool, it is lawful to eat it after it dies. It is not mandatory that the person who acquires it be a Muslim, nor is mandatory for him to invoke the name of God. However, if a dead locust is found in the hands of a k¡fir who has not acquired it from a Muslim, and it is not known whether he acquired it alive or dead, it is unlawful for consumption even if he claims that he acquired it alive, unless a proof or a trustworthy person that one does not entertain a conjecture that is contrary to his claim, says that it was acquired alive.
2687. It is forbidden to eat a locust which has not developed wings and is unable to fly.
2688. It is lawful to consume chickens, pigeons and various types of sparrows. Nightingales, starlings and larks are also considered types of sparrows.
Bats, peacocks, and various types of crows, and birds like owls, eagles and hawks, which have talons, or flap their wings lesser than gliding whilst flying, are all unlawful for consumption. The same applies to every bird that does not possess a crop, a gizzard and a spur behind its feet, unless it is known that it flaps its wings more than it glides, in which case it is lawful for consumption.
It is makruh to kill and consume the meat of a swallow or a hoopoe.
2689. If a part which possesses life, such as meat or fat, is severed from an animal that is alive, it is najis and unlawful for consumption.
2690. Some of the parts of lawful animals are unlawful for consumption. They are:
1. Blood
2. Excrement
3. Penis
4. Vagina
5. Uterus
6. Glands
7. Testicles
8. Penial gland
9. Spinal marrow
10. Gallbladder
11. Spleen
12. Urinary bladder
13. Eyeballs
Obligatory precaution dictates that one should also avoid consuming the two yellow nerves which run parallel on each side of the spinal cord. This precaution is highly emphasized in the case of the tallow nerves.
In the case of birds, their blood and excrement is undoubtedly unlawful to consume. As for the rest of the aforementioned parts, whichever are present in birds, the obligatory precaution is to avoid consuming them.
2691. It is unlawful to drink the urine of an unlawful animal. The same applies to lawful animals as well. It is also not permissible to consume other filthy things which are abhorred by human nature. However, there is no problem in drinking the urine of camels, cows and sheep in the event that one needs them for medicinal purposes.
2692. It is prohibited to consume clay. The same will apply to other parts of the earth, such as soil, pebbles and stones. There is no harm in eating Daghistani or Armenian clay if one’s treatment is limited to it. There is also no harm in consuming the earth from the grave of Imam al-Íusayn (as) for medicinal purposes, given that it does not exceed the size of an average chick-pea. It is better to dissolve the earth in a quantity of water, for example, such that it becomes completely diluted in it, and then drink from that water.
2693. It is not prohibited to swallow mucus or phlegm. Similarly, it is not prohibited to swallow food particles which are stuck to the teeth, and are removed upon cleaning the teeth, as long as it is not abhorrent to human nature.
2694. It is prohibited to eat or drink anything that would cause a person to die, or would inflict significant harm to him.
2695. It is makruh to eat the meat of a horse, a mule or a donkey. If someone defiles such an animal, the animal itself, its offspring and its milk become unlawful to consume. Their urine and dung becomes najis. Such an animal should be taken out of the city and sold elsewhere. It is incumbent upon the one who defiled it to pay its value to its owner.
If a person defiles a lawful animal, such as a cow or a sheep, their urine and dung become najis. It is also prohibited to eat their meat and drink from their milk. The same applies to their offspring. Such an animal should be killed and burnt immediately. The person who defiled the animal will have to pay its value to its owner.
2696. If a kid suckles milk from a pig, to the extent that it develops its bones, then the kid and its offspring are unlawful to consume. The same will apply to a suckling lamb based on obligatory precaution.
In the event that it suckles milk to a lesser extent, obligatory precaution dictates that the animal becomes lawful for consumption after it has undergone the process of istibr¡’. The process of istibr¡’ for such animals is that they should suckle milk for seven days from the udders of a goat or a sheep. If they do not need to suckle milk, they should eat grass for seven days.
As for an animal that is habituated to consuming human waste, its meat is also unlawful to consume. However, if it undergoes the process of istibr¡’, it becomes lawful. The process of istibr¡’ for such animals was elaborated in article 266.
2697. It is prohibited to consume wine and other intoxicants. There are numerous hadith which condemn their consumption. The purport of some of these hadith is as follows: God has not been disobeyed through an act that is more severe than consuming intoxicating drinks. Once Imam Ja‘far al-¥¡diq (as) was asked, “Which is worse, consuming wine or leaving prayers?” He (as) said, “Consuming wine, for it places the drinker in a state wherein he does not know his Lord.”
It has been narrated from the Holy Prophet (sawas) that wine is the root of every sin.
In fact, in some hadith, consuming of wine is considered to be more severe than adultery and stealing. The Lord has forbidden the consumption of wine because it is the source of all abomination, and the root of all evil.
A person who consumes wine loses his intellect, and hence fails to know his Lord. He commits every sin, violates every sanctity, severs every familial relationship, and commits every indecent act.
2698. It is forbidden to sit at a table where wine is being served, if a person is considered as one of them. It is also forbidden to eat something from that table.
2699. It is obligatory upon every Muslim to give bread and water to another Muslim who is at the verge of death on account of hunger or thirst, and to save him from dying.
Some of the hadith which have been employed to deduce the subsequent precepts are not at the point of conveying legal recommendation or legal undesirability; rather, they are conveying the benefits and losses which are consequential to these precepts.
2700. The following acts are recommended upon eating food:
1. To wash both the hands prior to eating food.
2. To wash both hands after eating, and to dry them with a piece of cloth.
3. The host should start eating the food before all the other people, and he should stop after everyone else. Prior to eating, the host should wash his hands first, and then the person to his right, and this process should continue until it reaches the person who is seated to the left of the host. After eating, the person who is seated to the left of the host should wash his hands, and this process should continue until it culminates with the host himself.
4. To say bismill¡h at the beginning of the meal. However, if there are a variety of dishes on the table, it is recommended to say bismill¡h prior to eating each of the dishes.
5. To eat with the right hand.
6. To eat using three or more fingers, and to avoid eating with two fingers.
7. If a few people are seated at a table, each of them should partake of the food that is in front of him.
8. To eat small morsels.
9. To sit for a prolonged period at the table, and to prolong the meal.
10. To chew the food properly.
11. To praise the Lord of the universe after consuming the meal.
12. To lick one’s fingers.
13. To clean one’s teeth after consuming the meal. However, one should avoid cleaning his teeth using a twig from a pomegranate tree or a sweet basil plant, a reed or the leaves of a date palm.
14. To collect and eat the particles which have fallen off the table. However, if one is having a meal in the wilderness, it is recommended to leave the food particles for the birds and animals.
15. To have a meal during the early part of the day and the early part of the night, and to avoid having a meal during the day and during the night.
16. To lie on one’s back after consuming the meal, and to place the right foot over the left foot.
17. To eat salt at the beginning of the meal and the end of the meal.
18. To wash fruits before consuming them.
2701. The following few acts are makruh upon having a meal:
1. To eat whilst travelling.
2. To eat to one’s full.
3. To look at the faces of other people whilst having a meal.
4. To eat hot food.
5. To blow at something that one is eating or drinking.
6. To wait for another dish after the bread has been placed on the table.
7. To cut the bread with a knife.
8. To place the bread under one’s plate.
9. To clean the meat off a bone in a manner that nothing remains on it.
10. To peel the skin of a fruit.
11. To throw away a fruit before it is fully eaten.
