ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Awfā (may Allah be pleased with both of them) said:
We participated in seven expeditions with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).
During those expeditions, we ate locusts.
According to another narration, he said: We ate locusts together with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).
Bukhārī, Dhabaʾiḥ wa’l-Ṣayd 13; Muslim, Ṣayd wa’l-Dhabaʾiḥ 52. Also
Transmitter
see: Tirmidhī, Aṭʿima 22; Nasāʾī, Ṣayd wa’l-Dhabaʾiḥ 37.
Explanation
Since both the transmitter of our hadith, ʿAbdullāh, and his father, ʿAlqama ibn Khālid, who is known by the patronymic Abū Awfā, were Companions (ṣaḥāba), we supplicate for both of them by saying “may Allah be pleased with both of them” (radīyallāhu ʿanhumā).
The brief biographical note of this noble person, which we provided in hadith number 54, states that he was the last Companion (ṣaḥābī) to pass away in Kūfa in the year 86 (705). He reports that he participated in seven, according to some narrations six, expeditions with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and that when their provisions ran out, they sometimes ate locusts. Indeed, the Muslim soldiers underwent a kind of commando training during these campaigns.
Although there are some narrations suggesting that eating locusts is not permissible, all of these narrations are weak. The most reliable hadith on this subject is the one above. There is consensus (ijmāʿ) among Islamic scholars that locusts may be eaten, and even that they may be eaten without being slaughtered. Only the Mālikīs considered it necessary to slaughter locusts. Imām al-Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa regarded locusts as akin to fish and stated that there is no objection to eating them even if found dead (For more information, see Tajrīd Translation, XII, 18-19).
What We Learn from the Hadith
- The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) fought in battles together with his Companions (ṣaḥāba), and in these battles, locusts were sometimes eaten.
- Eating locusts is permissible (ḥalāl).