What is Himar Wahshi or Wild Donkey?

By
Dr. Muhammad Jalal al-Azhari

What is Himar Wahshi (Wild Donkey)?

Habits of the people in eating meats
The habits of nations and tribes in the world in eating, drinking and in the
methodology of life are different and varied. Some of those habits are based
on the nature and traditions of the people since the ancient times. Some of
the habits of eating, drinking, dressing and living are based on some
religious commandments and traditions.
Like the human-being, animals also differ from species to species in their
food habits; cow, goat and buffalos are herbivorous that eat grass and grains
in general, while lions, cheetahs and bears are carnivorous that eat flesh in
general. However some animals live on the plants and grains as well.
Generally, people in the world are of two main categories: some are
vegetarians who eat just what grows from the earth; plants and grains and
they are a group of Hindus. Other people including Muslims and nonMuslims are omnivorous who eat meat and plants. There is a big difference
between the people who eat the meat; some of them eat pork, dog and frog
while Muslims do not eat certain animals, including pig, dog and donkey,
but they eat sheep, chicken and other animals that are allowed in their
religion.
It was said that an American person gifted a small beautiful pet dog to his
Philippine friend. After a period of time when the American friend came to
meet his Philippine friend he asked him about the pet dog, and then his
Philippine friend said: it was really tasty and delicious.

Why is meat permissible in Islam?

Islam has elucidated that the whole world was created for mankind and
mankind was created for the worship of Allah and to discover the secrets of
the universe in order to build it. The world has been created for the benefit
of mankind to help him in his noble mission. This fact was explained in
many verses of the Glorious Quran, including the verses that say: It is He
who created for you all of that which is on the earth.(al-Baqarah2:29)
In addition, Allah (Glory be to Him) said: And I did not create the jinn and
mankind except to worship Me. (Adh-Dhariyat 51:56)
The basic principle in Islam is that the meat of some animals for the benefit
and welfare of the human being is allowed. In Islamic Shari`ah the interests
of human beings are always preferable to everything. Therefore, mankind is
allowed to kill some permissible animals for their meat, also their usages in
carrying goods and riding and in tilling farms are permissible. As well as
killing some dangerous animals in order to preserve human life is
permissible in Islam as well. In fact, this ruling is corresponding to the
nature of the general human instinct.
What is wild donkey?

A wild ass with its baby

There are many serious questions regarding this subject, such as; is zebra a
wild donkey? Is the meat of a wild ass (onager) permissible? Has the wild
ass (onager) gone extinct? Is wild donkey a sort of deer? If it is a sort of
donkey then why is it permissible? What is the difference between the
domestic and the wild donkeys? All such questions would be dealt in this
article in a brief manner.

Motives for this study:

Some of our brothers asked me about al-Himar al-Wahshi onager (wild
ass) that was mentioned in some Hadith and in the ancient Arabic literature,
especially in the Arabic poetry before and after Islam. The question led me
to read a lot in this field in order to find out the meaning. This study is an
attempt to find out the meaning of al-Himar al-Wahshi (onager) wild ass.

The word himar washi and himarul wahsh both are used in Arabic and
Islamic literature. The phrase is composed of two words: himar that denotes
donkey, and wahsh that means untamed or wild.
Both parts of the phrase have become one and single word that denotes an
animal called in English onager, therefore, our mind does not turn to the
meaning of every word separately; neither to himar nor to wahsh, like the
word Woodforest that became a name and our mind does not turn to wood or
forest at all, rather it has become a single word. In addition, there are others
words for onager that do not have meaning of donkey or wild, however we
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cannot say why was the word himar wahshi so popular in Islamic literature
instead of other words for the same animal.
There are many single words in Arabic literature to denote this animal, as we
will mention in coming lines.

The word (himar donkey) in the Glorious Quran:

Domestic donkey is a known animal in our society and the word himar (ass)
and its plural form hameer and humur have been mentioned five times in the
Glorious Qur`an.
The first:
.

The example of those who were entrusted with the Torah and then did not
take it on is like that of a donkey who carries volumes [of books].) AlJumu`ah:5)
The word al-Himar in this verse refers to the common domestic donkey that
is used in carrying the goods in daily life especially in villages while the
wild ass is not used in carrying the books.
The second:
.



And look at your donkey! And thus We have made of you a sign for the
people.(Al-Baqarah:259)

The word Himar in this verse refers to the domestic donkey of `Uzair (peace
be upon him) who used to rode it to move from one place to another.

The third:
) 05(
)05(
As if they were (frightened) wild donkeys, fleeing from a lion (or a
hunter). (al-Muddaththir: 50, 51)
It is noteworthy that the word humur in this verse is a plural form of himar
that refers to donkey in general but the context of the verse denotes that they
are wild donkeys, as the domestic donkeys rarely see lions or never see a
hunter.
The fourth:

)8(


And (He has created) horses, mules and donkeys, for you to ride and as an
adornment. And He creates (other) things of which you have no
knowledge.(An-Nahl:8)
The word hameer in this verse refers to domestic donkeys because Allah
(Glory be to Him) has mentioned that those animals were created for human
being to ride and as an adornment, as the wild donkeys are not used to ride.
The fifth:

( 51(





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"And be moderate (or show no insolence) in your walking, and lower your
voice. Verily, the harshest of all voices is the braying of the asses."
(Luqman:19)
In this verse the word hameer refers to the donkeys that have a loud sound of
braying.
It is clear from the above-mentioned verses that they did not talk about the
prohibition or permissibility of the meat of donkey whether domestic or
wild.
The word himar (donkey) in Hadith:

A domestic donkey

Muslims in the beginning of Islam used to eat meat of the domestic donkeys,
but on the day of Khybar it has been declared as forbidden.
On the day of Khyber the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered
Abu Talha to announce amongst the people that Allah (Glory be to Him) and
His Messenger (peace be upon him) have prohibited consuming the meat of
domestic donkeys. It is clear that before Khybar, or before the seventh year
of migration, Muslims used to eat the meat of the domestic donkeys.(1)

It was reported on the authority of Jabir ibn `Abdullah who said: We ate
during the time of Khaibar the meat of horses and of wild asses, but Allah's
Messenger (peace be upon him) prohibited us from eating the meat of
domestic asses. (Reported by Muslim)

We can conclude from the narrations the following points:

The first: The domestic donkey was eaten before Khybar battle but on the
day of Khybar it was declared as forbidden. (*)
The second: the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
had slaughtered some domestic donkeys as well as their meat was being
cooked in the pots but when the order of the Prophet (peace be upon him)
was announced the pots were turned upside down with the meat.
The third: The wild donkey himar wahshi (onager) was known amongst the
Arabs before the advent of Islam and afterwards. Also, this animal was a
favorite prey for Arabs; Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The word himar wahshi in Arabic literature

The Arabic literature is full of names of onager (wild ass); many words were
used to denote this animal, like:
.

yahmur, al-fra, qamr'a, al-`Ayr and al-Ahqab, etc.

In addition, there are many names for male wild ass and there are many
separate names for female wild donkey as well.(2)

There is an Arabic idiom includes the word Fara denoting wild ass.

All hunted animals are contained in the wild donkey.
The origin of this idiom is that some people went for hunting, one of them
hunted a rabbit and another hunted a deer and another has hunted a wild
donkey, who had hunted the rabbit was proud of his own prey and who
hunted the deer was proud of his prey, so the hunter of the wild ass said in
pride: whatever you both have hunted is in my prey that is a huge wild
donkey.
This idiom was referred by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in
an occasion with the companion Abu-Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with
him).
The Arabic poet of pre-Islamic era Zuhyr bin Abi Sulma (520-609 A.D.)
says in his poem describing the color of the wild asses.

Sometimes I go to the fertile field in order to hunt the white wild donkeys
whose grazing fields include the high and level pastures.
The word qumr is plural form of aqmar and qamra that are descriptive
adjective for the wild asses. The word aqmar has been derived from qamar
that denotes the moon the white and bright celestial body. So the wild asses
mentioned in this poem were of white and bright colors.
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Furthermore, the poet says in his another poem:

Its brightness is like the brightness of the pure white cloths of Yaman, it
seems that their skins were whitened with water containing saltwort plants.

These two poems are clear in defining the color of the wild asses of the
Arabian Peninsula during the advent of Islam. The poems denote that those
wild donkeys were white in color and this means that it was different from
the present African zebra and also from the domestic donkeys as the color of
zebra is white and black stripe while the domestic donkey in general is of
dark gray.

Islamic ruling on the domestic donkey

It was narrated on the authority of `Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa who said: on the
day of Hunyn battle we found some domestic donkeys, so we slaughtered
them and when the meat was boiling in the pots the Messenger of
Allah(Peace be upon him) said: turn whatever is in the pots. And he forbade
eating it. We said to ourselves: he just has forbid because they were spoils
and one-fifth of it was not given away then I met Sa`eed ibn Jubair (may
Allah be pleased him) I mentioned to him then he said: no, he has prohibited
absolutely.(3)
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Islamic ruling on onager (wild donkey):

There is no dispute around the permissibility of onager or the wild ass, as
was mentioned in the narrations regarding the Khybar battle.
al-Fatawa al-Hindiyyah says in this regard: The animal which has flowing
blood is of two types: domestic or wild, the domestic animals such as
camels, cows and sheep are permissible unanimously. However, the wild
animals such as deer, the Arabian oryx, wild ass and wild camels are
permissible with consensus of the Muslims.(4)
Now the question is: What is himar al-Wahsh, or himar washi, specifically?
Is it zebra with distinctive black and white striped coats?
Or himar wahshi is another animal that existed in Arabian Peninsula and
now it has vanished?

A wild ass

This question needs a satisfactory answer.

There are three opinions in this regard; we are going to summarize them in
the following lines:
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The First:
It is noted that himar wahshi (onager) was a famous animal in Arabian
Peninsula. However the recent zebra never existed in Arabian Peninsula and
was unknown to them. The scholars of this opinion view that himar wahshi
was an animal like antelope (wild cow) or deer that differed from donkey in
everything except for the name. Its name is donkey but it is not a donkey at
all, rather this animal was like cow. Arabs name tamarind ) ( tamar
hindi that can be translated literally as Indian date, so the name is date but
there is nothing of date in tamarind; date is sweet but tamarind is sour. The
English word tamarind is borrowed from the Arabic word tamar hindi.
Onager is a type of wild animal like deer or wild cow. But the wild donkey
that was mentioned in Arabic literature was not the zebra, rather it was a
wild animal like deer, (Nilgai) Asian antelope and ibex, however, it seems
that it is now extinct due to the climate change, drought and frequent
hunting.
Nevertheless, now it has become famous in Arabic societies in the modern
era that the wild donkey or himar wahshi refers to the present zebra.
The shape of himar wahshi that lived in the Arabian Peninsula was of white
color with black line on its neck, but zebra never was known to the ancient
Arabs.

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A baby of an onager

It was mentioned by `Abdullah Hadlaq that Sheikh Mahmoud Shaker was

asked about himar wahshi mentioned in Arabic poetry: what was that? Then
he said: It is not the zebra; it was an animal white in color, slightly larger
than the domestic donkey that now has become an extinct.
al-Mawardi says: wild ass and domestic donkey are similar in name and
shape but both are different in the ruling of permissibility and prohibition,
the wild ass is permissible while the domestic is prohibited. (5)
And Sheikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim also said: the wild ass was in the
Arabian Peninsula in abundance. Hunting the wild ass has been mentioned
in their poetry, as well as in the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him). The appearance of wild is similar to that of the domestic; both
have hoof and large ears, both are similar in many qualities, in spite of that
both are separate species, the wild is pure, valid and permissible but the
domestic is invalid and forbidden. (6)
The second: the domestic donkey or himar wahshi is the recent zebra, and
this zebra is permissible according to the Hadith. The dictionary of modern
words says: himar al-Wahsh, is an wild animal of four-footed that belongs to
the horse species that has distinctive black and white striped coats (zebra). (7)
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This picture was taken from al-Mukhtar Min Siha al-Lighah, Muhammad Muhyuddin, al-Istiqamah, 1934. P.118.

It appears from the shape of zebras photo that it is a type of wild ass,
however, the Arabic wild ass or onager is different in color, but the Islamic
ruling in general is based on the meaning more than words or names of the
things. As well as zebra may be regarded as halal due to the absence of any
kind of prohibition in Islamic Shari`ah for this animal, and originally
everything is permissible in Islamic Shari`ah until specific prohibition
comes.

Why was the meat of donkey forbidden?

I have read somewhere that zebra is a smelly animal and it eats its own
excreta. However, in a narration of al-Bukhari it was mentioned that the
domestic donkey was declared as prohibited because it eats the excreta or
feces.
The scholars have mentioned some reasons for the prohibition of the meat of
domestic donkey; it was prohibited because people were in need to the
donkeys in their ride and in carrying their goods, if people began
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slaughtering the donkeys they would have suffered from the shortage in the
numbers of the donkeys that are helpful in carrying heavy things.
Furthermore, it became forbidden because its flesh or meat is an
abomination, filth and impure in itself as was mentioned in the Hadith.
The third: himar wahshi that has been mentioned in Arabic heritage
frequently is not the African zebra with white and black stripes as well as it
is not the Asian antelope, rather himar wahshi is an animal like the domestic
donkey in height, weight but the color is near to white and bright not the
brown. This animal is called in Persian Gor Khar, and onager in English as
can be seen in the following image.

Syrian wild ass

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Some people may wonder how can a Muslim eat meat of an ass but in my
view they do not concentrate that it is not just an ass but it is a wild ass
(onager) and not the domestic donkey. Islamic Shari`ah is clear in this issue;
the onager or himar wahshi is permissible and the meat of the domestic
donkey has been declared as prohibited in Khybar. This commandment came
from the same divine source that declared the beef as permissible then why
do you differentiate between the two commandments though they are from
the same authority.
Also if a Muslim finds something inappropriate for him then he can avoid it.
There is no compulsion for any person to eat the (wild donkey) onager. It is
enough to believe that this animal was permissible in Islam when it existed
but if it has become extinct then the issue has ended. The message of Islam
is not for a person rather its message is for the entire humanity until the Day
of Judgment.
The authority of making something permissible and something prohibited is
for Allah the Almighty and His Messenger (peace be upon him) only no one
else has that authority; however, the duty of Muslim jurists is to find out the
wisdoms behind the rulings and extract the reasons for the rulings in order to
extend the similar ruling to the issues that were not mentioned in the
Glorious Quran and blessed Sunnah in a direct manner.
The habit of the individuals is not the judge in Islamic rulings as the
temperament of the people is different and it varies from person to person.
We find some people hate meat of some animals while others do not hate it
rather; they eat it eagerly. Some countries are accustomed to something
whilst others are not used to it: for example; Muslims in the Indian
subcontinent hate horse meat and no one eats it while people in Uzbekistan
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eat the horse meat in the same way as we eat the beef without any
embarrassment and hesitation.
Horse meat in Uzbekistan
During my residence in Cairo some of our Muslim brothers from Uzbekistan
asked me: Do you want to buy meat? It is cheap. It is worth-mentioning that
in Egypt beef is expensive. I said to him: Why is it so cheap? He said;
because the Egyptians do not eat horse meat, so we bought the horse and
slaughtered and now the meat is ready to sell. I said to him in amazement,
horse meat! We never ate it and we consider it like the meat of ass according
to our habit. I was already aware of jurisprudential ruling regarding the horse
meat as it is not forbidden in Hanafi Fiqh.
Perhaps, now the meat of wild ass (onager) is not easy to get, but it is not as
rare as the meat of Dinosaur. If the wild ass (onager) has not become extinct
from the Arabian Peninsula there was no need for this kind of article, as we
do not need to search and find out the meaning of cow, because the cow is
available everywhere. It is not easy to find the wild ass in reality that is why
we are studying this animal to increase our knowledge and awareness of
what was around us.
___________________
(1) Sheikh Muhammad Atiyyah Salem, Sharh Bulugh al-Maram.
(2) Ahmad ibn Mustafa, Mu`ajam Asma al-Ashya, Dar al-Fadhilah,
Egypt, 13 11 A.H. p.88-89. And see: Abul-Hasan `Ali, al-Muntakhab,
Ihya at-Turath al-Islami, Ummul-Qura University, 1989, p.109.
(3) Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Sahl As- Sarkhasi, Mabsoot, book of
hunting, Dar al-M`arifah, 1409 A.H. 1989 A.D..
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(4) Al- Fatwa al-Hindiyyah, vol. 5, p. 289, al-Matba`ah al-Amiriyyah,

Bulaq, Egypt,1310 A.H.
(5) al-Hawi, vol.15, p.62.
(6) Fatawa Ash-Shaikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim vol.12, p. 230.
(7) Ahmad Mukhtar `Umar, Mu`ajam al-Lughah al-`Arabiyyah alMu`asirah, `Aalam al-Kutub 2007, p.558.
*See: Muhammad at-Tahir ibn `Aashur, at-Tahrir Wat-Tanvir, Tafsir Surah
an-Nahl, p. 110.

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