Eating squirrel meat

4-5-2006 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is squirrel meat halal?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

The scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them differed in opinion with regard to the permissibility of eating a squirrel; the majority of them are of the view that it is permissible to eat it. However, some other scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them are of the view that it is forbidden to eat it because it eats with its canine teeth; this is the view of the Hanafi school, and the view of some scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them of the Shaafi'ee and Hanbali schools, whereas the Maaliki school is of the view that it is disliked.

To conclude, the most preponderant opinion is that it is permissible to eat a squirrel according to An-Nawawi may Allaah have mercy upon him from the Shaafi'ee school, Ibn Qudaamah and Al-Mardaawi may Allaah have mercy upon them from the Hanbali school, and Khaleel may Allaah have mercy upon him from the Maaliki school. 

Allaah Knows best.

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