A ḥima (Arabic: حمى ḥima), meaning "inviolate zone" or "private pasture",[1] refers to an area set aside for the conservation of natural capital, typically fields, wildlife and forests - contrast ḥaram, which defines an area protected for more immediate human purposes.
According to the Quran, a Muslim has a specific obligation to practice stewardship over nature, and each species of animals is said to be "its own nation".
[2] The selection of ḥimas was thus a religious rather than community obligation, and was often undertaken by the ulema.
49,[5] stating: Narrated An-Nu'man bin Bashir: I heard Allah's Messenger (pbuh) saying, "Both legal and illegal things are evident but in between them are doubtful (unclear) things, and most of the people have no knowledge about them.
And whoever indulges in these unclear things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the Hima (the private pasture) of someone else, and at any moment he is liable to get in it.