Hadith Number 5498

setting

Narrated Rafi` bin Khadij

We were with the Prophet (ﷺ) in Dhul-Hulaifa and there the people were struck with severe hunger. Then we got camels and sheep as war booty (and slaughtered them). The Prophet (ﷺ) was behind all the people. The people hurried and fixed the cooking pots (for cooking) but the Prophet (ﷺ) came there and ordered that the cooking pots be turned upside down. Then he distributed the animals, regarding ten sheep as equal to one camel. One of the camels ran away and there were a few horses with the people. They chased the camel but they got tired, whereupon a man shot it with an arrow whereby Allah stopped it. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Among these animals some are as wild as wild beasts, so if one of them runs away from you, treat it in this way." I said. "We hope, or we are afraid that tomorrow we will meet the enemy and we have no knives, shall we slaughter (our animals) with canes?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "If the killing tool causes blood to gush out and if Allah's Name is mentioned, eat (of the slaughterer animal). But do not slaughter with a tooth or a nail. I am telling you why: A tooth is a bone, and the nail is the knife of Ethiopians."