Is it permissible to pay the penalty (Jaza') for hunted game after wounding it but before its death?
Chapter on Ransom (Fidyah) and Penalty for Hunting
Al-Mughni
Book of Hajj
Primary text
It is permissible to pay the penalty for hunted game after wounding it but before its death. This ruling is established by Ahmad. The justification is that the penalty functions as expiation (kaffarah), and thus its payment can precede death, similar to the expiation for homicide. Furthermore, since it is an expiation, it resembles the expiation for *Zihar* (a form of divorce) and oaths. The primary opinion, which is considered correct, mandates a single penalty amount when multiple individuals participate in the killing. This view is reported from Umar ibn al-Khattab, Ibn Abbas, and Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), and was adopted by Ata, al-Zuhri, al-Nakha'i, al-Sha'bi, al-Shafi'i, and Ishaq. The evidence relies on the verse: {Then the penalty is a representative of what was killed of livestock} (Quran 5:95). When a group kills game, they must provide its equivalent, and any excess is not obligatory. Since the penalty is established for the sacrificial offering (Hady), it must be established for fasting as well, based on the continuation {or an equivalent in fasts} (Quran 5:95).
Supporting text
There are two alternative views regarding the penalty when multiple people kill game. The second narration states that each person owes a full penalty, a view chosen by Abu Bakr and held by Malik, al-Thawri, and Abu Hanifa, based on the argument that it is an expiation for a killing that involves fasting, thus resembling the expiation for homicide. The third narration specifies that if the penalty is fasting, each person fasts fully; if it is other than fasting, only one penalty is due. If one owes a sacrifice and the other fasting, the one owing the sacrifice pays his share, and the other fasts fully, based on the reasoning that the penalty is a substitute (badal), not an expiation, as indicated by Allah associating the expiation with the penalty in the verse.