English
Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: We campaigned at Jaysh al-Khabat under Abu Ubaydah, facing severe hunger. The sea cast out a dead creature we had never seen, called amber, and we ate it for half a month. Abu Ubaydah took one of its bones, and a rider passed under it. When we returned, we mentioned it to the Prophet (ﷺ), who said: “Eat the provision Allah has brought forth for you, and feed us if you have any.” We sent some to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and he ate it. [Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim]
Malik narrated from Nafi’ that Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hurayrah asked Abdullah ibn Umar about what the sea casts out, and he forbade eating it. Nafi’ said: Then Abdullah returned, called for the Qur’an, and read: Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food as provision for you and the travelers (Qur’an 5:96). Nafi’ said: Abdullah sent to Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hurayrah, saying: “There is no harm in eating it.”
Muhammad said: We adopt Ibn Umar’s later view; there is no harm in what the sea casts out or what water recedes from. Only floating fish is disliked. This is Abu Hanifah’s view 1 and that of most of our jurists, may Allah have mercy on them.
Commentary and footnotes (2)
Note 1
(1) The statement: “This is Abu Hanifah’s view, etc.”: This is the view of Jabir, Ali, Ibn Abbas, Sa’id ibn al-Musayyib, Abu al-Sha’tha, al-Nakha’i, Tawus, and al-Zuhri, as reported by Ibn Abi Shaybah, Abd al-Razzaq, and others. Al-Daraqutni and al-Bayhaqi narrated permissibility of floating fish from Abu Bakr and Abu Ayyub. Al-Shafi’i, Malik, Ahmad, and some successors adopted this, citing: “Its water is pure, its dead are lawful,” and “Two dead things are made lawful for us: fish and locusts, liver and spleen” [narrated by Ibn Majah, Ahmad, Abd ibn Humayd, al-Daraqutni, Ibn Mardawayh, and others]. Our scholars responded: The sea’s dead are what it casts out or water recedes from, attributed to the sea, not what dies naturally and floats without affliction. Thus, in “Al-Binayah” and “Al-Dirayah,” per “Al-Ta’liq al-Mumajjad.”
Note 1
(١)قوله: وهو قول أبي حنيفة إلخ: وهو قول جابر وعلي وابن عباس وسعيد بن المسيب وأبي الشعثاء والنخعيوطاوس والزهري، ذكر عنهم ذلك ابن أبي شيبة وعبد الرزاق وغيرهما، وأخرج الدارَقطني والبيهقي إباحة الطافيعن أبي بكر وأبي أيوب، وبه قال الشافعي ومالك وأحمد وبعض التابعين أخذا من إطلاق حديث: (هو الطهور ماؤه الحل ميتته)، وحديث( أحلت لنا ميتتان ودمان، أما الميتتان فالسمك والجراد، وأما الدمان فالكبد والطحال).أخرجه ابن ماجه وأحمد وعبد بن حميد والدارقطني وابن مردويه وغيرهم، وأجاب عنه أصحابنا بأن ميتة البحر مالفظه البحر أو انحسر الماء عنه؛ ليكون موته مضافا إلى البحر، لا ما مات فيه حتف أنفه من غير آفة وطفا على الماء.كذا في (البناية) و(الدراية). قاله في (التعليق الممجّد).