Selling lions and tigers to zoos

A question about selling predators such as lions and tigers to zoos for display and recreation, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that it is unobjectionable within the laws in force, because these animals' benefit has become general after being limited to a few. ¹

The questioner asked about the ruling on selling predators such as lions and tigers to a zoo for display and recreation, and whether this benefit counts in the Sharia. ¹

The Department answered that animals fall into two groups for the ruling on selling them, according to whether they can be of benefit: the first is animals with a general, recognised benefit, which may be sold and kept even if the benefit is non-material, such as enjoying a peacock's colours or a nightingale's song; it quoted al-Khatib al-Shirbini in Mughni al-Muhtaj that benefit is a condition of a thing sold, with his examples of the cheetah for hunting, bees for honey and the nightingale for its song. ¹ The second group is animals of no benefit, or of benefit only to a few, which may not be sold, such as the lion, the tiger, the snake and the scorpion; it quoted Zakariyya al-Ansari in Asna al-Matalib that selling what has no benefit, such as a lion or a wolf, is void, and that kings keeping some of them for prestige and statecraft is not taken into account. ¹ It said that when custom changes for some animals and a general benefit becomes possible where there was none, selling them becomes permitted on the basis of Shafi'i positions, as with snakes and scorpions whose venom is now used to make medicines and cosmetics, and lions and tigers sold to zoos to be shown to the public. ¹ It concluded that selling lions and tigers to public zoos, within the laws in force, so that people may enjoy seeing them, is unobjectionable, because their benefit is no longer limited to a few but has become general. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4034, dated 29 December 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.