سورة المائدة

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): There is no harm if a person in ihram hunts fish and consumes it salted or fresh, and also takes it as provisions. And Allah said: أُحِلَّ لَکُمْ صَیْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَطَعامُهُ مَتَاعاً لَّکُمْ [Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food, a provision for you]. And Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "What is meant is the salted fish that they eat. The detailed ruling distinguishing between them is this: every bird that lives in the thickets and lays its eggs on land and hatches its young on land is counted as game of the land; and whatever is on land but lays its eggs in the sea and hatches its young in the sea is not game of the land, but rather is counted as game of the sea."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: أُحِلَّ لَکُمْ صَیْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَ طَعامُهُ مَتاعاً لَکُمْ وَ لِلسَّیَّارَةِ [Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food, a provision for you and for the travellers]. And Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "What is meant is the salted fish that you eat." And he said: "The difference between game of the sea and game of the land is that every bird which lives among the reeds and lays its eggs on land and hatches its young on land is game of the land; and every bird which lives on land but lays its eggs in the sea and hatches its young in the sea is game of the sea."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The verses of the Quran whose ta'wil (interpretation) and tanzil (revelation) are one and the same are every muhkam (clear-cut) verse concerning the forbidding of some well-known matter that existed in the time of the Arabs, whose ta'wil and tanzil are one and the same and which needs no tafsir (explanation) or elaboration beyond its ta'wil — such as the word of Allah concerning what is lawful: أُحِلَّ لَکُمْ صَیْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَ طَعامُهُ مَتاعاً لَکُمْ وَ لِلسَّیَّارَة [Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food, a provision for you and for the travellers]. And the like of it is much.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zayd al-Shahham said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about this word of Allah: أُحِلَّ لَکُمْ صَیْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَ طَعامُهُ مَتاعاً لَکُمْ وَ لِلسَّیَّارَةِ [Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food, a provision for you and for the travellers]. He said: "What is meant is the salted fish, and also what is taken from it as provision. If it is not salted and is used as provision, it is still counted as a provision and benefit."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Indeed Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has made my Book the arbiter over their books and the abrogator of them. I have made lawful things which they had forbidden, and I have forbidden some things which they had held lawful. One of these is that Musa (peace be upon him) forbade the catching of fish on Saturday, and Allah said to those of them who transgressed: "Be despised apes" (al-Baqara/65), and so they became. But I have made the catching of fish lawful. Allah says: أُحِلَّ لَکُمْ صَیْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَ طَعامُهُ مَتاعاً لَکُمْ [Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food, a provision for you].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): During your ihram, abstain from all game of the land, and do not eat from what another has hunted, and do not point to it so that he might hunt it.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The muhrim (one in the state of ihram) does not eat waterfowl.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Anything whose origin is from the sea, but which lives both on land and in the sea — it is not permissible for a muhrim (one in the state of ihram) to kill it. So if he kills such an animal, he must be penalized.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Imam Ali (peace be upon him) passed by some people while they were eating locusts. He said: "Subhan Allah! You are in ihram?!" They said: "These are from the sea." He said: "If that is so, then plunge them into the water" — meaning, these die when plunged into water, so how can they be from the creatures of the sea?

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): وَ حُرِّمَ عَلَیْکُمْ صَیْدُ الْبَرِّ ما دُمْتُمْ حُرُماً [And forbidden to you is the game of the land so long as you are in ihram]; this verse necessitates that hunting in the state of ihram, and eating something which another has hunted, is forbidden.