They will ask you O Muhammad (s) about what food is made lawful for them. Say ‘The good delicious things are made lawful for you; and the quarry of hunting creatures dogs wildcats or birds that catch food you have taught training them as hounds mukallibīn is a circumstantial qualifier derived from kallabtu al-kalba meaning ‘I released the hound against the quarry’ teaching them tu‘allimūnahunna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject of mukallibīn ‘training them as hounds’ in other words ‘disciplining them’ of what God has taught you of the art of hunting; so eat what they have caught for you even if they have killed it as long as they have not eaten any of it. This is in contrast to the untrained hunting creatures whose catch is not lawful for consumption the mark of these being trained hunting creatures is that they should return after they have been sent out that they can be curbed when cried at and that they can seize the quarry without eating of it; the minimum number of times by which this may be known is three. If they eat any of it then it cannot be counted as ‘what they have caught’ for their trainers and is consequently unlawful for consumption as reported in hadīth in both of the Sahīhs of Bukhārī and Muslim — therein it is also mentioned that a catch made by an arrow over which God’s name is mentioned is equivalent in lawfulness to the catch of trained hunting creatures. And mention God’s name over it when you unleash it. And fear God. Indeed God is swift at the reckoning’.
