Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
I heard that it is permissible to eat fox in the Shafi`i school. Is this correct even though it has fangs, what is the proof for this?
Yes, it is permissible in our school to eat fox, as Imam al-Shafi’i wrote, may Allah be well pleased with him and have mercy on him, in the Umm, in many places. This is the reliable position of our school as it says in the Minhaj, and others, in the chapter of foods. It says in the Majmu`, “In our school, fox is a game [s. hunted] animal, it is eaten and it is haram for one in ihram to kill it. If he does kill one, he must pay the penalty, and Tawus, al-Hasan, Qatada and Malik say the same, and it is one of the narrations from `Ata’.”
The proof for its permissibility is, as they said, that it is a well-disposed animal, and its fangs are weak, they aren’t strong and it doesn’t use them to attack people. So, analogy was used based on the hyena, whose permissibility is established, as Ibn Hajar said in the Tuhfa.
Amjad Rasheed
[Translated by Sr. Shazia Ahmad]