1719
Narrated Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him): 'We never ate the meat of the Budn for more than three days of Minaa. Later, the Prophet ﷺ gave us permission by saying: 'Eat and take (meat) with you. So, we ate (some) and took (some) with us.’" I asked `Ataa', "Did Jaabir say (that they went on eating the meat) till they reached Al-Madeenah?" `Ataa' replied, "No."
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Commentary :
Islamic law has taken the condition of society and its needs into consideration. It has built a coherent Muslim society where all its members act in unity such that whenever a calamity befalls anyone of them, everyone stands shoulder-to-shoulder to assist in removing it from him.
In this hadeeth, Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that they did not use to eat from the meat of their sacrificial animals above the three days of Minaa, which is known as the Days of Tashreeq, namely the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth of Thoo al-Hijjah. The animals mentioned in the hadeeth refer to the cows and camels which they took with them to the Haram to offer as a sacrifice to draw nearer to Allah. He (may Allah be pleased with him) explained that anytime over this period would be to distribute the meat among the poor, to meet their need and comfort them in their plight and extend a helping hand to them. However, after that, the Prophet ﷺpermitted them to eat from it, and to take from it as a provision in their journey.
The Taabi’ee, ‘Abdul Malik ibn ‘Abd al‘Azeez ibn Jurayj asked ‘Ataa’ ibn Abee Rabaah – the sub-narrator of the hadeeth from Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) -, “Did Jaabir say, ‘Until we came to Al-Madeenah?’” ‘Ataa’ replied, “No.” However, in Saheeh Muslim, it is “Yes” instead of “No.” The reconciliation between these two replies is by taking the fact into account that he had forgotten, thus he said, “No.” Thereafter, he remembered, and he replied, “Yes.” Or the meaning of his statement, “No,” is not the negation of the ruling, rather its meaning is that Jaabir did not elucidate the continuation of this from them until they reached Al-Madeenah. Based on this, the meaning of his statement in one narration will be, “We would take the meat of the sacrificed animals as a provision to Al-Madeenah, , i.e. when heading back to Al-Madeenah, which does not denote that the meat remained with them until they reached Al-Madeenah.
This hadeeth has been used as proof of establishing abrogation within the compendium of the Sunnah. This is an example of an act of Sunnah abrogating the other act of Sunnah. It was said: that this is not an act of abrogation, rather, there was a previous prohibition due to a legal reason, which when the latter disappeared, the ruling of prohibition became inapplicable. The legal reason for prohibiting hoarding initially then allowing it thereafter was the people’s need and a great number of poor. When the legal reason that obligated this ceased, he ﷺcommanded them to eat it and save (hoard). What Muslim has narrated in his Saheeh from ‘Abdullah ibn Waaqid reinforces this understanding, wherein he says, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺprohibited from consuming the meat of sacrificed animals after three days …,” it also contains, “… He ﷺstated, ‘I only prohibited you due to the horde who marched [to here] steadily; now, you may eat, hoard and give it away in charity.” The Arabic word “Daaffah” means a horde of weak Bedouins who came in to receive aid.
This hadeeth shows that a ruling rotates with its legal reason in terms of its existence and inexistence.
It also contains refutation against the one who perceives that it is not allowed to hoard food for the next day and that one who saves anything even if little is not entitled to receive the attribution of the friendship of Allah and that one who hoards has misperceived Allah, the Upholder..
Hadiths
