Eating Horse Meat

Q: I have heard that the majority of Scholars have permitted the consumption of horse meat and it is only Imam Abu Hanifa who prohibits it. It is claimed that the hadith cited by Imam Abu Hanifa in support of his view has been abrogated. If that is so, why did the Imam still cling to this view?

A: This mas’ala has been dealt with quite extensively in the magnum opus of Hazrat Shaikh Thafar Ahmad Thanwi, I’laa-us Sunan which is a remarkable work on hadith in support of the Hanafi Math-hab. I summarize his exposition on the non-permissibility of horse meat:

1) According to Imam Abu Hanifa horse meat is not haraam but makrooh tahreemi.

2) A hadith of Jaabir (radhiyallahu anhu permits it, while a hadith of Khalid bin Walid (radhiyallahu anhu) prohibits it.
Thus, two hadith of equal strength contradict each other. Imam Abu Hanifa then made recourse to the Holy Quran for finality in the matter. There he found the following verses: And Allah created animals for you; in it is warmth (for you) and other benefits and you eat therefrom. The animals referred to here are camels, cows, sheep, and goats. Then a few verses later Allah Ta’ala says: And (He created for you) horses, mules, and asses so that you may mount them, and for fashionable display. In this verse Allah Ta’ala does not mention eating as the purpose of creating horses and donkeys, as Almighty Allah did when he mentioned camels and sheep. Instead, Allah Ta’ala states that the purpose of horses is to mount them and to display their beauty. Imam Abu Hanifa deduced from these verses that Allah Ta’ala allowed the consumption of camels, oxen, goats, and sheep, but not horses and donkeys. The hadith that prohibits horse meat has, therefore, got support from the Quran Shareef.

3) Furthermore, he reasoned that horses were a means of jihad, so allowing its consumption would lead to a reduction in this important mode of jihad.

4) When one hadith prohibits and another hadith permits, and both are equal in strength then the rule is that prohibition takes precedence over permission Imam Abu Hanifa followed this rule.

5) The Imam did not say horse meat is haraam, but termed it makrooh, out of consideration for the fact that one hadith does permit it. May Allah reward this great Imam for his farsightedness in matters of fiqah, as well as his extreme respect for the hadith of Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) For the record, the view of Imam Abu Hanifa is also the view of Abdullah bin Abbas (radhiyallahu anhu) one the greatest Alims among the Sahaaba, and the view of Imam Malik (rahmatullahi alayh).