Mishkat al-Masabih

Jabir said that on the day of Khaibar God’s messenger forbade the flesh of domestic asses, but permitted horseflesh. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Qatada told that he saw a wild ass and killed it. The Prophet asked whether they had any of its flesh and when he replied that they had a leg he took it and ate it. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

We started a hare at Marr az-Zahran1 and when I caught it and brought it to Abu Talha he cut its throat and sent its haunch and two hindlegs to God’s messenger, and he accepted it. 1. A wadi near Mecca. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn ‘Umar reported God’s messenger as saying, "I neither eat nor prohibit the eating of lizards." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn Abbas said he was told by Khalid b. al-Walid that he went with God’s messenger to visit Maimuna who was both his and Ibn 'Abbas's maternal aunt and found that she had a roasted lizard. She offered the lizard to God's messenger, and when he withdrew his hand from it Khalid asked him whether lizards were prohibited. He replaid, ''No; but there were none in the land of my people, and I find that I dislike them.'' Khalid said, ''I then chewed and ate it while God’s messenger was looking at me." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Musa told that he saw God’s messenger eating fowl. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn Abu Aufa told that they went on seven expeditions along with God's messenger and ate locusts along with him. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

I was on the expedition when the army had to beat leaves off trees for food and Abu ‘Ubaida was placed in charge. We suffered severe hunger, and then the sea cast up a dead fish the like of which we had never seen before, called the spermaceti whale, and we ate of it for half a month. Abu ‘Ubaida took one of its bones and a rider was able to pass under it. When we arrived and mentioned the matter to the Prophet he said, ''Eat a provision which God has brought forth for you, and give us some to eat if you have any." He said they sent some of it to God’s messenger and he ate it. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s messsenger as saying, "When a fly alights in anyone’s vessel he should plunge it all in and then throw it away, for in one of its wings there is a cure and in the other disease." Bukhari transmitted it.

Maimuna said that when a mouse fell into some clarified butter and died God's messenger was asked about it and replied, "Throw it and what is round it away and eat what is left." Bukhari transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Umar told of hearing the Prophet say, "Kill snakes, kill those which have two streaks and those with small tails, for they obliterate the eyesight and cause miscarriage." ‘Abdallah said that while he was chasing a snake and trying to kill it Abu Lubaba called to him not to kill it, but he replied that God's messenger had given command that snakes should be killed. He then said that he had later prohibited killing house-snakes, for they are resident jinn. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

We went in to visit Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, and while we were sitting we heard a movement under his couch. When we had looked and found a snake in it I jumped up to kill it, but Abu Sa'id who was engaged in prayer made a gesture to me indicating that I should sit down, so I sat down. When he finished he pointed to a room in the house and asked if I saw it, and when I said I did he told me that a servant of theirs who had recently been married had occupied it. They went out with God’s messenger to the Trench, and that young man was asking permission from God’s messenger to leave after staying half the day and would return to his wife. One day when he asked God's messenger’s permission he told him to carry his weapons with him as he feared Quraiza might do him harm. The man took his weapons and returned, and finding his wife standing between the two doors he was smitten with jealousy and made to pierce her with his lance, but she told him to put away his lance and enter the house to see what had made her come out. He entered and found a huge snake coiled on the bedding, so he made for it with the lance and pierced it with it and then went out and fixed it in the ground in the house, but the snake quivered and attacked him, and no one knew which of them died first, the snake or the young man. They went to God's messenger and mentioned that incident to him, asking him to supplicate God to restore him to life for them, but he replied, "Ask forgiveness for your friend." Then he said, "These houses have resident jinn, so when you see one of them give it a warning three times. 1 If it goes away, well and good; otherwise kill it, for it is an infidel.'' He then told them to go and bury their friend. A version reports him as saying, ''In Medina there are jinn who have accepted Islam, so when you see one of them pronounce a warning to it for three days and if it appears to you after that kill it, for it is only a devil." 1. Hiarrijiu ‘alaiha thalithan. The verb means to make things difficult. This phrase is explained as meaning that one should tell the snake three times that it will be in difficulties if it returns, and that it must not blame one if, after this warning, it is driven away and killed. Muslim transmitted it.

Umm Sharik told that God’s messenger ordered geckos to be killed, saying the gecko blew on Abraham.1 1. Al-Qur’an 21:68 speaks of Abraham being put into a fire. In this tradition it is said that the gecko blew on the fire to stir it up. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Sa‘d b. Abu Waqqas told that God’s messenger ordered geckos to be killed, calling them noxious little creatures. Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "If anyone kills a gecko with the first blow a hundred good deeds will be recorded for him, less if he kills it at the second and less still if he kills it at the third." Muslim transmitted it.

He reported God’s messenger as saying that when a prophet was stung by an ant he ordered a colony of ants to be burned, and God most high revealed to him, "Because an ant stung you you have burned a community which glorifies me." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, "When a mouse falls into clarified butter which, is solid throw the mouse and what is around it away; but if it is in a liquid state do not go near it." Ahmad and Abu Dawud transmitted it, and Darimi transmitted it on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas.

Safina told that he and God's messenger ate the flesh of a bustard. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Umar told that God's messenger prohibited eating the animal which feeds on filth or drinking its milk. Trimidhi transmitted it. In Abu Dawud’s version he said that he forbade riding the animal which feeds on filth.

‘Abd ar-Rahman b. Shibl said the Prophet forbade eating the flesh of lizards. Abu Dawud transmitted it.