eating and slaughtering are not lawful, and through which one must not seek to draw near to Allah?"

I said: "Yes, how numerous this species is!"

He said: "They are those who were tormented in the first age; they have [now] found relief from the heat of iron."

The purest of cattle, birds, and fish... (Al-Haft and Al-Azillah)

It was also narrated in the sixty-first chapter of the book Al-Haft wa al-Azilla, on the authority of the Master (al-Mawla) al-Sadiq—mercy be upon him—that he said: "The purest of cattle and the most wholesome in flesh and milk are those that possess a rumen; the purest of birds in flesh and eggs are those that possess a gizzard and a crop; and the purest of fish and the most wholesome in flesh are those that possess scales. Whatever is of this nature is Naskh (Transmigration into a higher/purer form), and whatever is otherwise is Maskh (Metamorphosis into a lower/debased form)... [up to his saying]: That which is Naskh, its eating is wholesome, its soul is purified, and its scent is pleasant. That which is Maskh, its eating is forbidden, its soul is [distorted], and its scent is foul.

Predatory beasts, birds of prey, and vermin are Maskh, having reverted to the essence from which they originated. Pearls, rubies, and emeralds are