We were with the Prophet ﷺ at Dhu al-Hulayfa in the region of Tihama when we captured some sheep and camels. The people hurried and set the cooking pots boiling with the meat. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came, ordered the pots to be overturned, and then equated ten sheep to one camel for distribution.Then a camel bolted, and there were only a few horses among the people. A man shot it with an arrow and brought it down. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "These animals can become wild like wild beasts, so whatever of them gets away from you, do the same with it."My grandfather said, "Messenger of Allah, we hope, or we fear, that we will meet the enemy tomorrow, and we have no knives. May we slaughter with sharpened reeds?"He replied, "Be quick," or he said, "Whatever causes blood to flow and over which the name of Allah has been mentioned, eat from it, except for tooth and nail. I will tell you about that. As for the tooth, it is a bone, and as for the nail, it is the knife of the Abyssinians."
كنا مع النبي ﷺ بذي الحليفة من تهامة، فأصبنا غنما وإبلا، فعجل القوم، فأغلوا بها القدور، فجاء رسول الله ﷺ، فأمر بها، فأكفئت، ثم عدل عشرا من الغنم بجزور، ثم إن بعيرا ند، وليس في القوم إلا خيل يسيرة، فرماه رجل، فحبسه بسهم، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: إن لهذه البهائم أوابد كأوابد الوحش، فما غلبكم منها فاصنعوا به هكذا. قال: قال جدي: يا رسول الله إنا نرجو أو نخاف أن نلقى العدو غدا، وليس معنا مدى فنذبح بالقصب؟ فقال: عجل أو أرني، ما أنهر الدم وذكر اسم الله عليه فكلوا، ليس السن والظفر، وسأحدثكم عن ذلك، أما السن فعظم، وأما الظفر فمدى الحبشة.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Partnership (2507) and Muslim in the Book of Sacrifices (1968: 20-21), both through Sufyan bin Saeed bin Masruq, from his father, from Abaya bin Rifa bin Rafi bin Khadij, from his grandfather Rafi bin Khadij, as mentioned. The wording given is Bukhari's.In the printed edition of Sunan Abu Dawud (2821), after his statement, "We have no knives with us," there appears an addition, "Shall we then slaughter with a flint or a split piece of stick?" It appears that this addition was inserted by one of the copyists, which is why Munziri did not mention it in his Tahdhib (2703), nor did Bayhaqi, who narrated it through Abu Dawud.Regarding his words, "Hasten" or "Show me," the doubt belongs to the narrator as to which wording the Prophet ﷺ actually spoke. "Or" here might carry the meaning of "and," meaning hasten the slaughtering and show me.Regarding his words "arni," it was also read as "arin," with the ra carrying a kasra and the nun sakin, this is how some transmitters of Bukhari recorded it. It was also read "arni," with the ra carrying a kasra followed by the ya of the first person, this is how Asili recorded it in the narration of Bukhari. And it was read "arun," with the ra sakin and the nun carrying a damma, and this may well be sahih, for it comes from "rana yarnu," like "daa yadu."The imperative form would be "arn," like "ida" (call), meaning keep looking, that is, hasten in the slaughtering, and "arn" means look, has the blood flowed or not? For if one does not hasten, the slaughtered animal might die of suffocation, but if he sees that the blood has flowed from the place of the cut, then the slaughtering has been confirmed.He excluded from slaughtering the fingernail, the tooth, and bones. As for the fingernail, it has been reported that it is the knife of the Abyssinians, so he forbade imitating the disbelievers, as Nawawi said.I would add, it is also toxic, for slaughtering with the fingernail may cause the entire meat to be contaminated.As for the tooth, slaughtering with it is not quick, and so it causes harm to the animal.As for bones, they may come from an animal whose meat is eaten, or they may come from one whose meat is not eaten and is therefore impure, so we are forbidden from that. Apart from these three, there is no disagreement over the permissibility of slaughtering with anything else, so long as it is sharp.Nawawi said, "In this hadith there is explicit permission to slaughter with anything sharp that cuts, except for the fingernail, the tooth, and other bones. This includes the sword, the knife, the spearhead, stone, wood, glass, reed, pottery, copper, and all other sharp things, for slaughter can be validly carried out with all of them." Sharh Sahih Muslim (13/123).