Questions on the ruling of Eating Alligator and the ruling of Martial Arts

🕌 *HALQAH SESSION*

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله رب العالمين
والعاقبة للمتقين ولا عدوان إلا على الظالمين
والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا محمد وعلى اله وصحبه اجمعين

Assalāmu Alaykum Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh
Honored brothers and sisters on this Noble platform
You are welcome to this morning’s session of the Halqah

We ask Allāh to make it beneficial to us all, amīn
Given the manyness of the questions pending answers, we shall respond to what Allāh makes easy this morning from among them inshā Allāh

*QUESTION*
*ON EATING THE ALLIGATOR*
_”Assalamu alaikum pls wat is d islamic ruling on eating aligator. D one found in d forest.jazakallahu khair”_

*ANSWER*
Wa Alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh
As for the Alligator, it is an animal that lives in swampy lands and walk well on land but feed on preys when mature
As for the ruling of it’s eating, the majority of the Fuqahā held that it was Harām. This is the position held by the Hanafi, the Shāfi’ī and he Hanbalī Schools
Whereas the Mālikiyyah held that it were permissible
As for the majority, their position is substantiated with the fact that the Alligator is possessed of the canines with which it feeds on prey
And any animal falling under this category has been made Harām by virtue of the Hadīth recorded by Muslim and others and is Sahih from Abū Tha’alabah Al-Khushanī – rahimahullāh – that the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said
كل ذي ناب من السباع فأكله حرام
_”Every canivorous animal possesed of fangs, it’s eating is Harām”_
But the Malikis considered that it was an animal that predominantly lives in water and took the Hadith that permitted eating water animals generic in this regard
But the position held by the Malikis is weak in this regard

One, the Alligator is of the water animals that live on land also. They are therefore more amphibian than they are aquatic. The ruling of anything that is mixed is the preponderance of the most probable. In the case of the Alligator, it is closer to land than to water

Two, the Ulamā have made it a principle that the aquatic animals referred in the Hadīth are animals that live in water alone. This is the most dominant position among the Ulamā
Three, it’s a precept in Fiqh that whenever the ruling of a thing bears similarity to a thing which is Harām and another which is Halāl, preponderance is accorded to that which is Harām
Imām An-Nawawī – rahimahullāh – explained all of these in the Majmū’
Bārakallāhu Fīkum
Jazakumullāhu Khayran

*QUESTION*
*ON THE RULING OF MARTIAL ARTS*
_”The Question is about martial arts… .Is boxing, taekwando,, karate and other martial arts legal according to Islam”_

*ANSWER*
Alhamdulillāh
Generally, Islām encourages all forms of physical exercises and preparations for Jihād and fitness
This also includes Martial Arts of all it’s forms
Except when it is used as a form of sports where harming your opponent for sparring purposes and as a competition
This is Harām because of the verse in which Allāh said
ولا تقتلوا أنفسكم إن الله كان بكم رحيما
_”And do not kill yourselves. Indeed Allāh is merciful to you”_
Yourselves mean yourself and yourselves one to another
Likewise He – Ta’ālā – said
ولا تلقوا بأنفسكم إلى التهلكة
_”And do not take yourself toward destruction.”_
But to learn these arts and perfect them for the purposes of self defense, fitness and protection is encouraged and praise Worthy
And Allāh knows best
Bārakallāhu Fīkum