[Q 501] Ruling on Bullet Hunting

QUESTION:

Is hunting animals with bullets allowed ?

ANSWER:

Hunting purely for recreation and amusement is impermissible and sinful. However, if there is a need—such as being in a place where there is no food available except through hunting, or there is a medical necessity, and the area or animal being hunted is not legally prohibited—then hunting becomes permissible.

For a hunted animal to be halal, certain essential conditions must be fulfilled. One fundamental condition is that the hunting tool must possess the ability to cut or tear, such as an arrow, spear, or knife, and the animal must die due to the cutting of that sharp-edged tool. An object that kills the animal by breaking, burning, or impact/pressure does not make the animal halal. A bullet works by pressure and impact, not by cutting, therefore the animal hunted with a bullet does not become halal.

However, if such an object is used and the animal is still alive before death, and it is slaughtered according to Shar‘i method with a sharp-edged tool while life remains, then it becomes halal. But if the animal dies before slaughter—even if the bullet was fired with tasmiyah—the animal will not be halal.

Sayyidi Imam Ahmad Raza Khan رحمہ الله تعالی states:
Hunting for food, medicine, removing harm, or trade is permissible, but hunting for entertainment—such as commonly practiced today and called “hunting for sport”—is completely haram. … (In another answer he states): A bullet cannot be treated as an arrow regarding the permissibility of hunted animals. The animal killed by a bullet is absolutely haram, because the bullet does not cut or tear; rather, it causes shock, pressure, breakage, and burning. …
Bullets that are pointed in shape are also not sharp-edged; they are almost oval. Although sharpness is not necessary, the tool must be muhaddad (baardh daar — capable of cutting/tearing), which bullets are not. And even if hypothetically a bullet were made sharp like an arrow, it would still be doubtful whether death occurred due to cutting or due to the bullet’s burning/impact. In cases of doubt, the ruling is haram.

In another place he states:
If the animal was slaughtered and it was established that at the time of slaughter it had life—such as movement, twitching, or blood flowing as it flows from a slaughtered animal, or any other sign of life—then it is halal. If the animal was shot with a gun and left without slaughter, or slaughtered but no life was proven at the time of slaughter, then it is haram. The ruling depends on performing slaughter while some life remains—even if it does not move or bleed, it will still be halal. Otherwise, it is haram.

Answered by: Mubashir Attari (AskMufti Scholar)
Verified by: Mufti Sajid Attari
Translated answer
Date: 5th December 2025