Is it valid to sell an edible animal while excluding its head, skin, limbs, and offal?
Chapter on Selling Assets and Fruits
Al-Mughni
Book of Sales
Primary text
The transaction is valid. Ahmad explicitly stated this. This ruling is supported by the principle that the excluded items are known. Evidence includes the Prophet's prohibition against *al-Thunya* (unspecified exception) unless the item is known. Furthermore, a tradition states that when the Prophet migrated to Madinah, Abu Bakr and Amer ibn Fuhayrah purchased a sheep from a shepherd and stipulated keeping its skin/offal (*sallabuha*). Additionally, Zayd ibn Thabit and Companions ruled in a case where a man sold a cow, stipulating its head, that the seller should be given the equivalent value of a head, supporting the validity of specifying parts. The validity is also established because both the excluded part and the remaining object are known, similar to selling a wall while excluding a specific palm tree.
Supporting text
Malik permits this exclusion only during travel (*safar*), not during residence (*hadar*), reasoning that a traveler cannot benefit from the skin and offal, thus permitting the sale of only the meat. Abu Hanifah and Al-Shafi'i rule that it is invalid because an excluded part, like a fetus (*haml*), cannot be sold in isolation, making its exception invalid.