سورة الأنعام

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurarah said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the ruling on eating eel. He said: "What is an eel?" So I described it for him. He said: "قُلْ لَا أَجِدُ فِی مَا أُوحِیَ إِلَیَّ مُحَرَّماً عَلَی طَاعِمٍ یَطْعَمُهُ إِلَّا أَنْ یَکُونَ مَیْتَةً أَوْ دَماً مَسْفُوحاً أَوْ لَحْمَ خِنزیرٍ فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ أَوْ فِسْقاً أُهِلَّ لِغَیْرِ اللهِ بِهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَیْرَ باغٍ وَ لَا عادٍ فَإِنَّ رَبَّکَ غَفُورٌ رَحیمٌ [Say: I do not find in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden for an eater to eat of except that it be what has died of itself, or blood poured forth, or flesh of swine — for that surely is unclean — or that which is a transgression, other than (the name of) Allah having been invoked on it; but whoever is driven to necessity, not desiring nor exceeding the limit, then surely your Lord is Forgiving, Merciful]." Then he said: "Allah has not forbidden anything of the animals in the Quran except swine specifically. And every sea creature that does not have a scaly skin like a leaf (scales) is disliked (makruh), and it is not forbidden — it is only makruh."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Muslim said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the ispilah fish, the eel, the kulumah fish, and whatever is without scales — is eating them forbidden or lawful? He said to me: "O Muhammad! Recite this verse in Surah al-An'am: قُلْ لَا أَجِدُ فِی مَا أُوحِیَ إِلَیَّ مُحَرَّماً عَلَی طَاعِمٍ یَطْعَمُهُ إِلَّا أَنْ یَکُونَ مَیْتَةً أَوْ دَماً مَسْفُوحاً أَوْ لَحْمَ خِنزیرٍ [Say: I do not find in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden for an eater to eat of except that it be what has died of itself, or blood poured forth, or flesh of swine]." I recited it to the end. He said: "What is forbidden is what Allah has forbidden in His Book; but they (the people and the opponents) turn away from certain things, and we too turn away from them."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): He was asked about birds of prey and wild animals, until animals such as the hedgehog, bat, donkey, mule and horse were mentioned. He said: "Nothing is forbidden except what Allah has forbidden in His Book. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) on the day of Khaybar forbade the Muslims from eating the flesh of donkeys, and the reason for the prohibition was so that they would not destroy their mounts. In truth, donkeys are not forbidden." Then he said: "Recite these verses: قُلْ لَا أَجِدُ فِی مَا أُوحِیَ إِلَیَّ مُحَرَّماً عَلَی طَاعِمٍ یَطْعَمُهُ إِلَّا أَنْ یَکُونَ مَیْتَةً أَوْ دَماً مَسْفُوحاً أَوْ لَحْمَ خِنزیرٍ فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ أَوْ فِسْقاً أُهِلَّ لِغَیْرِ اللهِ بِهِ [Say: I do not find in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden for an eater to eat of except that it be what has died of itself, or blood poured forth, or flesh of swine — for that surely is unclean — or that which is a transgression, other than (the name of) Allah having been invoked on it]."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Muslim narrates: Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) forbade the eating of donkey flesh, and indeed he forbade it only because of their being beasts of burden, out of fear that they would be wiped out; and the donkey is not forbidden." Then he recited this verse: قُلْ لَا أَجِدُ فِی مَا أُوحِیَ إِلَیَّ مُحَرَّماً عَلَی طَاعِمٍ یَطْعَمُهُ إِلَّا أَنْ یَکُونَ مَیْتَةً أَوْ دَماً مَسْفُوحاً أَوْ لَحْمَ خِنزیرٍ فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ أَوْ فِسْقاً أُهِلَّ لِغَیْرِ اللهِ بِهِ [Say: I do not find in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden for an eater to eat of except that it be what has died of itself, or blood poured forth, or flesh of swine — for that surely is unclean — or that which is a transgression, other than (the name of) Allah having been invoked on it].

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): A group argued on the basis of this verse: قُل لاَّ أَجِدُ فِی مَا أُوْحِیَ إِلَیَّ مُحَرَّمًا عَلَی طَاعِمٍ یَطْعَمُهُ إِلاَّ أَن یَکُونَ مَیْتَةً أَوْ دَمًا مَّسْفُوحًا أَوْ لحْمَ خِنزِیرٍ فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ أَوْ فِسْقًا أُهِلَّ لِغَیْرِ اللهِ بِهِ [Say: I do not find in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden for an eater to eat of except that it be what has died of itself, or blood poured forth, or flesh of swine — for that surely is unclean — or that which is a transgression, other than the name of Allah having been invoked on it], and they interpreted this verse to mean that nothing is forbidden except these things, and they considered all animals lawful: monkeys, dogs, predatory animals, wolves, lions, mules, donkeys and beasts, and they claimed that all of these are lawful because Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: قُل لاَّ أَجِدُ فِی مَا أُوْحِیَ إِلَیَّ مُحَرَّمًا عَلَی طَاعِمٍ یَطْعَمُهُ [Say: I do not find in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden for an eater to eat of]. In this matter they committed an obvious error. This verse is a response to what the Arabs made lawful and what they made unlawful, because they used to make some things lawful for themselves and forbid others. Allah the Mighty and Majestic related their words and said: وَ قَالُواْ مَا فِی بُطُونِ هَذِهِ الأَنْعَامِ خَالِصَةٌ لِّذُکُورِنَا وَ مُحَرَّمٌ عَلَی أَزْوَاجِنَا وَ إِن یَکُن مَّیْتَةً فَهُمْ فِیهِ شُرَکَاء [And they say: What is in the wombs of these cattle is exclusively for our males and forbidden to our wives, but if it be born dead, then they are all partners in it]. So whenever the foetus [of an animal] was delivered alive, the men were allowed to eat it while it was forbidden to the women, and if it was dead, both men and women would eat it, and this is the statement of Allah the Blessed and Exalted: وَ قَالُواْ مَا فِی بُطُونِ هَذِهِ الأَنْعَامِ خَالِصَةٌ لِّذُکُورِنَا وَمُحَرَّمٌ عَلَی أَزْوَاجِنَا وَإِن یَکُن مَّیْتَةً فَهُمْ فِیهِ شُرَکَاء [And they say: What is in the wombs of these cattle is exclusively for our males and forbidden to our wives, but if it be born dead, then they are all partners in it].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ibrahim ibn Ziyad al-Karkhi said: I heard Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) saying: "If an enemy of Ali (peace be upon him) were to come to the Euphrates while its water was surging and had overflowed its banks on both sides, and he took a handful of it and said bismillah, and after drinking it said al-hamdu lillah, that drink of his would be nothing but carrion, or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine."