The Excellence of the Meat of Sheep Over Goats

3. Certain persons of our people have narrated from Ja‘far ibn Ibrahim al-Hadramiy from Sa‘d ibn Sa‘d who has said the following: “I once said to abu al-Hassan, al-Rida’ عليه السلام, ‘My family eats the meat of goats but not that of sheep.’ He (the Imam) asked, ‘Why they do so?’ I replied, ‘They say that it excites bitterness (stomach acid).’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Had Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, known anything better than sheep He would have presented it as ransom for Ishaq.’” This is how it has come in Hadith.