Fishing

If a person goes for fishing with the view of deriving some valid benefit from the fish that he catches, then it would be permissible to go for fishing. For instance, a person goes for fishing in order to consume the meat of the fish or to derive some benefit from its skin, bones, etc. then in these cases it would be permissible for him to go out for fishing, as there is some benefit being derived from the fishing expedition. He should however, see that these fishing expeditions do not lead to neglect of his duties to Allah Ta’ala, such as missing out Salaah, etc.

On the other hand, if a person engages in fishing merely as a sport and his sole purpose is just to “enjoy” himself and “kill” time, i.e. without any intention of deriving any of the benefits cited in the previous paragraph (such as eating its meat, etc), then this would fall under the category of “Lahw-wa-La’ib”, resulting in its prohibition. The original position of our Jurists is that hunting is a waste of time, because almost all of the time, the person has an intention of sport, leisure and entertainment.