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Is it permissible to eat ostrich meat and trade in ostriches, even though the Messenger said: "Do not eat the meat of animals that feed on filth," and it has been observed that ostriches eat dung?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Eating ostrich is permissible due to the general scope of Allah's saying: "Say: Permissible for you are the good things," and His saying: "And He makes lawful for them the good things." The ostrich is considered good (tayyib), and the Companions ruled a camel (badana) as expiation for hunting it, which indicates that it is an edible game animal. The ostrich's consumption of droppings does not affect the permissibility of eating it, nor does it make it a jallalah (an animal that feeds on filth), because the droppings of animals whose meat is eaten are pure, not impure.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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