Sahih al-Bukhari, 2284
sahihNarrated Ibn `Umar:
The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade taking a price for animal copulation.
حَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَارِثِ، وَإِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ، عَنْ نَافِعٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ نَهَى النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنْ عَسْبِ الْفَحْلِ.
Isnad
5 transmittersReferences2 variants
- In-Book Reference
- Book 37, Hadith 24
- USC-MSA web (English) reference
- Vol. 3, Book 36, Hadith 484 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
Islam urges people to seek good and lawful means of earning a living to the best of one’s ability, and stay away from all evil and unlawful ones. In this hadeeth, the Prophet ﷺ forbade taking a price for animal copulation, which means charging fees for the stud's semen (i.e., hiring out a stud for copulation). The Arabic word used in the hadeeth is ‘Fahl’ (translates as stud) and is used to refer to a male animal (kept for breeding), including: horses, camels, goats, or otherwise. The transaction is conducted by hiring out a stud (for copulation) from its owner and keeping it until the female animals conceive (become pregnant) in return for fees payable to the stud’s owner, or that the owner of female animals would leave his animals with the stud’s owner until they conceive (become pregnant). The Prophet ﷺ forbade such a transaction because of the ambiguity involved, since the benefit is not guaranteed; the copulation is not certain. The stud may not discharge semen and the female animals may not conceive. Therefore, the transaction involves Gharar (i.e., risk and uncertainty). It is also possible that the prohibition in this regard is meant to urge Muslims to embody noble morals and graciously lend the studs for copulation without charging fees to enhance animal breeding. This would indicate that such an act is the becoming attitude of Muslims towards one another, being an act of kindness that promotes the spirit of cooperation andinterdependence among Muslims. It was narrated on the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), as recorded in Sunan Al-Tirmithee, that the Prophet ﷺ deemed it allowable (as a legal concession) to accept an honorarium rather than charging fees for the stud’s semen. This means that he ﷺ deemed it allowable for the stud’s owner to accept a gift orhonorarium for offering his stud for copulation, but not fees. .