Is the intention to slaughter a prerequisite for a valid Shar’i slaughter, and consequently, is it permissible to eat game that was accidentally struck without the intention of killing it, or what was killed at night for amusement or to test a weapon, or what was killed in self-defense?

If a person intends to hunt a specific animal but hits another, it is permissible to eat it according to the majority of scholars, a view preferred by Ibn Qudamah, who based it on the generality of Qur’anic verses and Prophetic traditions. However, if there was no intention of hunting at all, but rather he shot for experimentation or amusement, then whatever he hit is not permissible to eat, as it is considered carrion. In the case of killing an animal in self-defense, it is not permissible to eat it due to the absence of the intention of ritual slaughter (tadhkiyah), unless its ritual slaughter by conventional methods is impossible, such as with a runaway animal, in which case it is permissible to wound it anywhere.