Cafe of cutting
off the
h ea d of an
animal.
A M a g ia n , an
ap oß ate , or an
idolator are
not qualified
to kill game.
Cafe of game
wounded by
one perfon,
and then {lain
by another*
If a perfon cut off the head of a goat, it is lawful to eat it, as the
jugular veins have been cut through; but it is nevertheless abominable.
If, however, a perfon perform this aftion by beginning with the fpine,
fo as to occafion the death of the animal before the jugular veins be
cut, it is not lawful: but it is lawful if the animal do not die until
after the jugular veins are cut.
G a m e killed by a Magian, an apoftate, or a worfliipper o f images,
is not lawful, becaufe they are not allowed to perform Zabbah, (as
has been already explained in treating of that fubjeft,) and Zabbah is
a condition of the legality of game. It is otherwife with refpedt to a
Chrijlian or a Jew, becaufe, as their performance of a Zabbah Ikhtiaree
is lawful, it follows that their performance of a Zabbah Iztirdree mud
alfo be lawful.
I f a perfon {hoot an arrow at game, and hit it, without rendering
it fo weak as to prevent it from running, and in that ftate another
perfon Ihoot at it, and kill it, the game is the property of the-fecond
hunter, becaufe he was the perfon who took it, and the prophet has
faid, “ Game belongs to him who takes it." If, on the contrary, the
firft hunter render it too weak to run, and another perfon then kill it,
it is in that cafe the property of the firft hunter. Neverthelefs, he
muft abftain from eating it, as there is a probability that it may have
died in confequence of the fecond wound ; and as it had not the
power of running after the firft wound, it ought to have been flain by
a Zabbah Ikhtiaree, no regard being, in fuch an inftance, paid to the
Zabbah Iztirciree, in oppofition to the former cafe.— This prohibition,
however, againft eating the game, proceeds on the fuppofition of its
being in fuch a condition as to induce us to believe the continuance
of its exiftence poffible ; fince under thefe .circumftances its death is
referred to the fecond {hot: but if the firft wound he fuch as to
render the continuance of its exiftence impoffible, (as if it have as
little
little life in it as an animal with its throat cut, having, for instance,
had its head cut off,) in that cafe it is lawful to eat it, as
its death is not then referred to the fecond {hot, it being at that
period in a ftate equivalent to annihilation. If, however, the firft
wound be fuch as to render the furvival of the game impoffible, and
there neverthelefs be more life in it than in an.animal with its throat
cut, (as if, fqr, inftance, it be capable of living oneday,') in that cafe,
according to Aboo Toofaf, it is not rendered unlawful by the fecond
{hot, becaufe fuch a degree of life (in his opinion) is of.no effect.; but
according to Mohammed it is unlawful, as fuch a degree of life (in his
opinion) is.ofeffefh
In the foregoing cafe, the fecond hunter is refponfible to the firft
for the value which the game bears after receiving the firft wound ;
becaufe he [the fecond hunter] has deftroyed game the property o f the
firft hunter, (who became the proprietor of it in confequence of his
wounding it, and thereby incapacitating it from running;) and the
game is, by fuch wound, rendered defective ; and in all cafes of re-
fponfibility for deftruftion of property a regard is paid to the time
.of the deftruftion. The compiler o f the Hedâya remarks that in this
cafe there is a diftinftion ;— in other words, relponfibility takes place
where it is known that the game in queftion died in confequence
of the fecond wound; (that is, where the wound of the firft hunter
was fuch that the animal lived after it,— and the wound of the fecond
hunter fuch as to deftroy the exiftence;) and the fecond hunter is
accordingly refponfible for the value of the game, -in itswounded and
defective, not in its unwounded and perfect ftate-; in the fame manner
as where a perfon kills the lick flave of another. If, however, it be
known that the game died in confequence of‘the f r j l wound, or i f it
be uncertain of which wound it died, Mohammed has {aid, in the
Zeeadàt, that it is incumbent upon the fecond hunter, firft to pay a
compenfation for the damage he may have occafioned to the game bv
1 B b I