All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

 

It is permissible to hire the male of any animal for certain days or times and to use it in impregnating female animal. However, there are several aspects for this permissibility:

First: "The Messenger of Allah (Blessings and peace be upon him) forbade (taking hire for) a stallion's covering." {Agreed upon}. The forbiddance stated in this Hadith pertains to taking a hire for a stallion`s covering aimed to achieve pregnancy. This is considered aleatory sale because achieving pregnancy is uncertain and Sharia has forbidden all aleatory transactions leading to conflict and deception, and this is the closest form clarifying this type of sale.

However, if the stallion was hired for covering mares on absolute basis regardless of whether pregnancy takes place or not, then this sale isn`t aleatory. Rather, in principle, this sale is permissible because "The intended benefit is achieved" as stated Al-Guraffi (May Allah have mercy on him). For further information, check [Al-Modawanah, vol.3/pp.438] by Imam Malik (May Allah have mercy on him).

Listing the different forms of aleatory sale, Sheikh Dardeer (May Allah have mercy on him) said: (Such as taking a hire for a stallion`s covering to achieve pregnancy). Undoubtedly, this involves uncertainty because the female horse may not get pregnant. Moreover, it is permissible to hire the stallion for a certain period: a day or two, or for a number of times: twice or thrice for a certain hire." {Al-Shareh Al-Kabir fi Hashiyat Al-Dosookhi, V3:58}.

Second: Shafie scholars (May Allah have mercy on them) said: "Whoever hires a stallion to benefit from it on absolute basis and without specifying that it will be used for covering mares or any other purpose and, at the same time, used it for impregnation, then this isn`t included under the prohibition stated in the above Hadith. Rather, other Shafie scholars said that the prohibition pertains to hiring the stallion solely for impregnating the mare, which may not happen since the stallion on its own may or may not cover the mare. However, if the owner of the mare hired the owner of the stallion to help the stallion cover the mare, then this is permissible. Kindly check [Az-Zawajir, vol.1/pp.382] by Ibn Hajar and [Hashiyat Nehayat Al-Mohtaaj, vol.3/pp.447] by Al-Shabramolsi.

Third: Scholars (Hanafis and Hanbalis) who have absolutely forbidden charging stud fees for a stallion stated that it is permissible to, unconditionally, give a present or pay an honorarium to the owner of the stallion.

Al-Bahooti, a Hanbali scholar, stated: "If the owner of a stallion allowed it to cover mares without receiving a hire or making any conditions and was given a gift or paid an honorarium for that, then this is permissible because he did others a favor, so it was permitted for them to reward him for it." {Khash-shaf Al-Khinaa`, vol.3/pp.563}. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.