Tadmir (training horses for a race or a campaign)

التضمير

Tadmir is feeding a horse until it is fat and strong, then cutting its feed, stabling it, covering it with cloths until it sweats, so its flesh is lighter and it can run; the Arabs gave it forty days. Most jurists allow it, and recommend it for horses kept for war; the Prophet ﷺ raced horses that had been trained against untrained ones, and this answers the objection of hardship. The conditions and the difference of racing distances are in the entry on racing. 1 2

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Arabia
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Overview

Tadmir is feeding a horse until it is fat and strong, then reducing its feed, stabling it and covering it with cloths until it sweats, so its flesh lightens and it can run. 1

Definition

Damr is leanness and a tucked belly; the Arab period for tadmir is forty days, and the place of training is called a training ground. 1

Related terms

Racing (sibaq and musabaqa) has the same sense, and sabq with a vowel is the stake raced for; tadmir is sometimes done to win a race. 1

Ruling

Most jurists allow tadmir without restriction, and recommend it for horses kept for war. 2 The hadith of Ibn Umar: the Prophet raced horses that had been trained from al-Hafya to Thaniyyat al-Wada, and untrained ones from Thaniyyat al-Wada to the mosque of Banu Zurayq, and Ibn Umar raced among them. This answers the objection that training is unlawful for its hardship. 2

Cross-reference

Whether training is a condition of racing, and the difference of distances between trained and untrained horses, belongs in the entry on racing. 2

People and things also explored

Sabq (contests and races)· Ahl al-Harb (the people at war with the Muslims, their status and the rules that govern dealings with them)· Anfal (spoils and the other gains taken from the enemy, and their divisions)· The angels at Badr· Dissuading others from fighting· Ghanima (spoils of war)· Hudna (truce with non-Muslims)· Hujna (hybridness, in the fiqh sense: spoils shares and speech)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5297
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5298
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Tadmir (training horses for a race or a campaign)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/tadmir-training-horses/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Sabq (contests and races)