Is Donkey Meat Halal?

The short answer

Domestic donkey meat is not halal. Jabir ibn Abdullah reported that the Prophet forbade eating the meat of domestic donkeys at Khaybar and permitted horse meat. The hadith is in both Bukhari and Muslim.

What about wild donkeys?

Wild donkeys are treated differently. In Muslim's wording of the same event, the Companions said they ate horse meat and wild donkeys at Khaybar, while the Prophet forbade domestic donkeys. So scholars treat the wild donkey as permitted game. Some apply the same reasoning to the zebra, a wild member of the horse family.

What about mules?

A mule is born from a horse and a donkey. Scholars generally do not allow mule meat, because one parent is the forbidden domestic donkey.

Is donkey meat eaten anywhere?

Donkey meat is eaten in parts of China and some other countries, sometimes in sausages or mixed into other meat products. Donkey-hide gelatin (ejiao) is used in some Chinese remedies. These are not halal.

Common questions

Is horse meat halal?

The same hadith permits horse meat. The Hanafi school ranges from mildly disliked to halal, and the other schools allow it with halal slaughter.

Is zebra halal?

Some scholars treat it like the wild donkey, which the Companions ate. It is almost never sold.

The bottom line

Domestic donkey is forbidden by a clear hadith. Wild donkey is permitted game, and mules are avoided by most scholars.