Fish or Flesh?!

Abu Ghanim Bishr ibn Ghanim al-Kharasani said:

"I said: 'A man said to his wife: "If you eat meat, then you are divorced." So she ate fish!'

He said: 'Then she is divorced.'

I said: 'Why? He swore: "If she ate meat." And fish is different from meat?'

He said: 'Meat is flesh, and fish is from flesh, and it is meat. Allah Almighty called it as "meat" in His Book. Allah, the Exalted, said:

{وَهُوَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ الْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُواْ مِنْهُ لَحْماً طَرِيّاً}

"And He it is Who disposed the sea, that you may eat from it fresh meat" [16:14]

He means by that is "the fish". Allah called it as "meat".'

I said: 'Some people say: "There is no breaking of the oath against him, unless his wife eats what is generally agreed upon as meat." because meat among us is meat, and fish is fish, and fish among us is not meat.'

He said: 'There is nothing in what they say. And fish was called as "meat" in Allah's Book, as I mentioned to you. And in our saying that he broke his oath because his wife ate what Allah called as "meat".'"

Selected from: "Masterpieces of the Righteous Predecessors" by Sheikh Nasser Al Sabi'ei.

Original reference: "Al-Mudawwanah".  

Translated by: Bint Ibadh