Is eating monitor lizard meat permissible or forbidden?

Many scholars have permitted eating the waral (monitor lizard), citing statements from figures like Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab and Malik, and on the grounds that it resembles the dabb (spiny-tailed lizard) which was eaten in the presence of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Ibn Hazm considered it among the permissible animals. However, Imam Ahmad refrained from issuing a definitive ruling on it, while some later Hanbali and Shafi'i scholars explicitly declared it forbidden.