The Rulings and Conditions of Sacrifice

Sacrifice or Udhiyah is one of the great rituals of Islam, which is performed as an act of obedience to Almighty Allah as Prophet Ibrahim a.s and Isma’il a.s willingness to make ultimate sacrifice. Udhiyah refers to the animal (camel, cattle or sheep) that is sacrificed as an act of worship to Allah, during the period from after the Eid prayer on the Day of Nahr (Eid ul-Adhaa) until the last of the Days of Tashriq (the 13th day of Dhu’l-Hijjah).

Ruling

“Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice (to Him only).” [Al-Kawthar 108:2]

“Say (O Muhammad): ‘Verily, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the ‘Aalamiin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).” [Al-An’aam 6:162]

“And for every nation We have appointed religious ceremonies, that they may mention the Name of Allah over the beast of cattle that He has given them for food. And your God is One God, so you must submit to Him Alone (in Islam)…” [Al-Hajj 22:34]

It is a Sunnah mu’akkad and according to Hadith narrated by Ahmad, Ibnu Majah, Daud and others, it is the Practice of Prophet Muhammad SAW that every Eidul-Adha to deliver the sermon and lead the Eidul-Adha prayer, after which he would perform the sacrifice of two fat and healthy sheep, with horn and white fleece, and before commencing the slaughter he would supplicate:

‘ O Allah! This is from Muhammad and His household members.’

And he would slaughter the next animal with supplication:

‘ O Allah! This is from Muhammad and My Ummah.’

A portion of the slaughtered meat was eaten by the Prophet SAW and His family, whilst the other portion was distributed evenly to all the poor and needy.

Jundub reported: “The Messenger of Allaah SAW said: ‘Whoever slaughtered his sacrifice before he prays, let him slaughter another one in its place, and whoever did not slaughter a sacrifice, let him do so in the name of Allaah.’” (Muslim, 3621)

With regard those who is dead, if the deceased bequeathed up to one third of his wealth for that purpose, or included it in his waqf (endowment), then these wishes must be carried out, otherwise, if a person wishes to offer a sacrifice on behalf of someone who has died, this is a good deed and is considered to be giving charity on behalf of the dead.

The conditions of Sacrifice.

One should slaughter his sacrifice either personally or through the appointment of somebody else to do it on his behalf. One should slaughter either a sheep, or share a cow or a camel with six others. This animal is called hadi. A goat should be no less than 1 year old; a sheep no less than 6 months on condition that it is fat; a cow no less than 2 years; and a camel 5 years.The animal should be healthy and free from physical defects. It should not be one-eyed, limping, mangy, or very thin and weak.

1. Intention.

One must have the intention (niyyah) of sacrificing before doing so. The sacrifice has to meet certain conditions, the first of which is the intention. The person who sacrifices must set his or her intention before slaughtering. The sacrifice is done to seek closeness to Allah, and then the intention has to precede the act. It is not required that the person who is actually doing the slaughter mention on whose behalf he is slaughtering because the intention will suffice.

2. Muslim

The person who does the slaughtering should be a Muslim. The slaughtering is an act of worship for the purpose of pleasing Allah Almighty.

3. Preferable To Slaughter the Sacrifice Himself

It is preferable for the person who sacrifices to slaughter the sacrificial animal himself or herself. It is preferable for the person sacrificing-be it a man or a woman-to slaughter the animal with his or her own hands. But if he does not, it is mustahabb for him to be present when it is slaughtered or delegate it. The Prophet SAW slaughtered two rams with his own hands one for him and the other for the ummah.

4. Slaughter In The Name of ALLAH.

One should say “Bismillah” (In the name of Allah) before slaughtering. No name other than Allah’s should be mentioned over the animal at the time of slaughter. It was reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say when slaughtering, “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar” (In the name of Allah, Allah is the Greatest). Ibn ‘Umar and Qutadah said they don’t know anyone who disagrees with the foregoing. If one has forgotten to utter these words, the sacrifice will be acceptable; and if one adds to it the following supplication it would be even better according to many scholars: “O Allah, This is from You and unto You, so please accept it from me or from the person on whose behalf I am slaughtering.”

5. The Time of Sacrifice

It is required at the appointed time from one who is alive on behalf of himself and the members of his household, and he may include in the reward for it whoever he wishes, living or dead. The earliest time to slaughter is after the ‘Eid Prayer and sermon; the latest time is the end of the second Day of Tashreeq (the days following ‘Eid). The slaughtering days, therefore, are three: the ‘Eid and the two days following it, i.e., 10, 11, and 12 Dhul-Hijjah. This is according to `Umar, ‘Ali, Ibn ‘Umar, Ibn Abbas, Abu Hurairah, Anas, and the opinion of Ibn Hanbal.

6. What to Do with the Sacrificial Meat

The person who is sacrificing should take one-third of the meat for his or her family and the rest to give away other Muslims; one-third as a gift and one-third to the poor. If he or she keeps more than one-third it is all right. The followers of Ibn Hanifah say the more you give to the poor the better.

7. Should Not Pay the Butcher

Ibn Hanbal declared that the butcher should not be paid with the meat of the sacrificed animal instead of with money. Ash-Shaf’ie and the scholars of his school supported this opinion but said that if the butcher is a poor man, it is all right to give him part of the meat as a present the same as others, especially when he has slaughtered the animal and seen the meat that he is deprived of .

8. Selling the Meat or Skin

Abu Hanbal declared that it is forbidden to sell any of the meat or the skin of the sacrificial animal, whether this animal is slaughtered to fulfill a vow or slaughtered voluntarily. Imam Ahmad and Imam Shaf’ie forbade selling its meat or any part of it. Al-Hasan and An-Nukha’i permitted selling the skin and buying with the money something beneficial to oneself and others; thus he differentiated between the meat and the skin. Abu Hanifah said to sell the meat and donate the money to the poor.

9. Age

The animal should have reached the required age, which is six months for a lamb, one year for a goat, two years for a cow and five years for a camel.

10. Good Condition

Prophet SAW said: “There are four that will not do for sacrifice: a one-eyed animal whose defect is obvious, a sick animal whose sickness is obvious, a lame animal whose limp is obvious and an emaciated animal that has no marrow in its bones.” (Sahih al-Jaami’, no. 886). There are milder defects that do not disqualify an animal, but it is makruh to sacrifice such animals, such as an animal with a horn or ear missing, or an animal with slits in its ears, etc. Udhiyah is an act of worship to Allaah, and Allaah is Good and accepts only that which is good. Whoever honours the rites of Allaah; this has to do with the piety (taqwa) of the heart.

11. Slaughtered By A Sharp Knife.

The animal should be slaughtered by a sharp object which is capable of making it bleed by severing blood vessels, even if the sharp object is a stone or a piece of wood.

The slaughtering is to be done by cutting the throat of the animal or by piercing the hollow of the throat, causing its death. The best way is to cut the windpipe, the gullet, and the two jugular veins.

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The Concept of Animal Sacrifice in Islam

Sacrifice is not a pillar of Islam. We must look at the occurrences in a contextual manner, understanding not only the pre-Islamic institution of sacrifice, the Qur'anic reforms concerning this practice, and the continuance of sacrifice in the Muslim world, but also the context in which the Qur'anic revelations occurred. For it seems that with many people, both non-Muslims and Muslims alike, context is the key that they are missing.

The situation as it was in pre-Islamic Arabia with regard to animal sacrifice was that not only did the pagan Arabs sacrifice to a variety of gods in hopes of attaining protection or some favor or material gain, but so, too, did the Jews of that day seek to appease the One True God by blood sacrifice and burnt offerings. Even the Christian community felt Jesus to be the last sacrifice, the final lamb, so to speak, in an otherwise valid tradition of animal sacrifice (where one's sins are absolved by the blood of another).

Islam, however, broke away from this longstanding tradition of appeasing an "angry God" and instead demanded personal sacrifice and submission as the only way to die before death and reach "fana’" or "extinction in Allah." The notion of "vicarious atonement of sin" (absolving one's sins through the blood of another) is nowhere to be found in the Qur'an. Neither is the idea of gaining favor by offering the life of another to Allah. In Islam, all that is demanded as a sacrifice is one's personal willingness to submit one's ego and individual will to Allah.

One only has to look at how the Qur'an treats this subject, to see a marked difference regarding sacrifice and whether or not Allah is appeased by blood. The Qur'anic account of the sacrifice of Isma`il ultimately speaks against blood atonement. Allah says:

Then when (the son) reached (the age of) (serious) work with him, he said: "Oh my son! I see in vision that I offer thee in sacrifice: Now see what is thy view!" (The son) said: "Oh my father! Do As thou art commanded: Thou wilt find me, if Allah so wills one practicing patience and constancy!" So when they had both submitted their wills (to Allah), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (for sacrifice), We called out to him, "Oh Abraham! Thou hast already fulfilled the vision!" Thus indeed do We reward those who do right. For this was obviously a trial and We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice. (As-Safaat 37: 102-107)

The Qur'an never says that Allah told Abraham to kill (sacrifice) his son. Though subtle, this is very important, for the moral lesson is very different from that which appears in the Bible. Here, it teaches us that Abraham had a dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son. Abraham believed the dream and thought that the dream was from Allah, but the Qur'an never says that the dream was from Allah.

However, in Abraham and Isma'il's willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice—Abraham of his son, Isma'il of his own life—they are able to transcend notions of self and false attachment to the material realm, thus removing a veil between themselves and Allah, enabling Allah's mercy to descend upon them as the Spirit of Truth and illuminate them with divine wisdom (thus preventing a miscarriage of justice and once and for all correcting the false notion of vicarious atonement of sin).

For, certainly, Allah, the Ever Merciful, Most Compassionate, would never ask a father to go against His command of "thou shall not kill" and kill his own son in order to be accepted by Him. For the Qur'an teaches us that Allah never advocates evil (see 7:28 and 16:90) and that only Satan advocates evil and vice (24:21). The notion that Allah would want us to do an immoral act runs counter to Allah's justice.

As far as the yearly tradition that has followed this event (that is, the sacrificing of a ram to commemorate Abraham and Isma'il's great self sacrifice), we must understand it and the Qur'an versus that pertain to animal sacrifice, in relation to the time and place circumstances under which these revelations were received and how people were trying to make a personal sacrifice by sharing their limited means of survival with the poorer members of their community.

The underlying implication of Islam's attitude toward ritual slaughter is not that of blood atonement, or seeking favor with Allah through another's death, but rather, the act of thanking Allah for one's sustenance and the personal sacrifice of sharing one's possessions and valuable food with one's fellow humans. The ritual itself is NOT the sacrifice. It is merely a method of killing where the individuals kill as quickly as possible and acknowledge that only Allah has the right to take a life and that they do so as a humble member of Allah's creation in need of sustenance just like every other species in Allah's creation.

So let us examine some of the appropriate verses in the Qur'an to see what it has to say about sacrifice and how it related to life in 500 C.E. Arabia.

Yusuf Ali in his commentary said that even someone who was pro-sacrifice with an understanding of animals as subject to humans, did not champion wanton cruelty or notions of blood atonement.

Allah says:

In them ye have benefits for a term appointed: In the end their place of sacrifice is near the Ancient House. (Al-Hajj 22: 33)

Yusuf Ali also said: “The word ‘In them’ refers to cattle or animals offered for sacrifice. It is quite true that they are useful in many ways to humans, e.g., camels in desert countries are useful as mounts or for carrying burdens or for giving milk, and so, for horses and oxen; and camels and oxen are also good for meat, and camel's hair can be woven into cloth; goats and sheep also yield milk and meat, and hair or wool. But if they are used for sacrifice, they become symbols by which people show that they are willing to give up some of their own benefits for the sake of satisfying the needs of their poorer brethren."

Allah also says:

To every people did We appoint rites (of sacrifice) that they might celebrate the name of Allah over the sustenance He gave them from animals (fit for food). But your God is One God: Submit then your wills to Him (In Islam): and give thou the good news to those who humble themselves. (Al-Hajj 22: 34)

Yusuf Ali said: “This is the true end of sacrifice, not propitiation of higher powers, for Allah is One, and He does not delight in flesh and blood, but a symbol of thanksgiving to Allah by sharing meat with fellow humans. The solemn pronouncement of Allah's name over the sacrifice is an essential part of the rite."

Allah says :

It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify Allah for His guidance to you: And proclaim the Good News to all who do right. (Al-Hajj 22: 37)

Yusuf Ali said:“No one should suppose that meat or blood is acceptable to the One True God. It was a pagan fancy that Allah could be appeased by blood sacrifice. But Allah does accept the offering of our hearts, and as a symbol of such offer, some visible institution is necessary. He has given us power over the brute creation, and permitted us to eat meat, but only if we pronounce His name at the solemn act of taking life, for without this solemn invocation, we are apt to forget the sacredness of life. By this invocation we are reminded that wanton cruelty is not in our thoughts, but only the need for food …"

It is quite clear from the Qur'an passages above that the issue of animal sacrifice is in relation to the role animals played in Arabian society at that place and time (as well as other societies with similar climates and culture), in that humans are commanded to give thanks to Allah and praise Allah for the sustenance He has given them and that they should sacrifice something of value to themselves to demonstrate their appreciation for what they have been given (which in their case was the very animals on which their survival was based).

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The Concept of Slaughter and Sacrifice.

It is indeed assential to clear the misconceptions about the significance and wisdom behind the acts of slaughter and sacrifice in Islam in order to clear such distortions about Islam.

In the pre-Islamic Arabia not only did the pagan Arabs sacrifice to a variety of gods in hopes of attaining protection or some favor or material gain, but so, too, did the Jews of that day seek to appease the One True God by blood sacrifice and burnt offerings. Evan the Christian felt Jesus to be the last sacrifice, the final lamb, so to speak, in an otherwise valid tradition of animal sacrifice [where one's sins are absolved by the blood of another].

Islam, however, broke away from this longstanding tradition of appeasing an "angry God" and instead demanded personal sacrifice and submission as the only way to die before death and reach "fana’" or "extinction in Allah." The notion of "vicarious atonement of sin" -absolving one's sins through the blood of another- is not found in the Qur'an. Neither is the idea of gaining favor by offering the life of another to Allah. In Islam, all that is demanded as a sacrifice is one's personal willingness to submit one's ego and individual will to Allah.

One only has to look at how the Qur'an treats this subject, to see a marked difference regarding sacrifice and whether or not Allah is appeased by blood. The Qur'anic account of the sacrifice of Isma`il ultimately speaks against blood atonement. Allah says: Then when [the son] reached [the age of] work with him, he said: "Oh my son! I see in vision that I offer thee in sacrifice: Now see what thy view is!" [The son)]said: "Oh my father! Do as thou art commanded: Thou wilt find me, if Allah so wills one practicing patience and constancy!" So when they had both submitted their wills [to Allah], and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead [for sacrifice], We called out to him, "Oh Ibrahim! Thou hast already fulfilled the vision!" Thus indeed do We reward those who do right? For this was obviously a trial and We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice. [As-Safat 37:102-107]

The Qur'an never says that Allah told Ibrahim to kill [sacrifice] his son. But Ibrahim had a dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son. Ibrahim believed the dream and thought that the dream was from Allah, which Qur'an never says that the dream was from Allah. However, in Ibrahim and Isma`il's willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice—Ibrahim of his son, Isma`il of his own life—they are able to transcend notions of self and false attachment to the material realm, thus removing a veil between themselves and Allah, enabling Allah's mercy to descend upon them as the Spirit of Truth and illuminate them with divine wisdom, thus preventing a miscarriage of justice and once and for all correcting the false notion of vicarious atonement of sin.

For, certainly, Qur’an teaches us that Allah never advocates evil [see 7:28 and 16:90]and that only Satan advocates evil and vice (24:21). The notion that Allah would want us to do an immoral act runs counter to Allah's justice. The underlying implication of Islam's attitude toward ritual slaughter is not that of blood atonement, or seeking favor with Allah through another's death, but rather, the act of thanking Allah for one's sustenance and the personal sacrifice of sharing one's possessions and valuable food with one's fellow humans.

The ritual itself is NOT the sacrifice. It is merely a method of killing where the individuals kill as quickly as possible and acknowledge that only Allah has the right to take a life and those they do so as a humble member of Allah's creation in need of sustenance just like every other species in Allah's creation.

So let us examine some of the appropriate verses in the Qur'an to see what it has to say about sacrifice and how it related to life in 500 C.E. Arabia. Allah says: In them ye have benefits for a term appointed: In the end their place of sacrifice is near the Ancient House. [Al-Hajj 22:33]

The word ‘In them’ refers to cattle or animals offered for sacrifice. They are useful in many ways to humans, e.g., camels in desert countries are useful for carrying burdens or for giving milk, and so, for horses and oxen; and camels and oxen are also good for meat, and camel's hair can be woven into cloth; goats and sheep also yield milk and meat, and hair or wool. If they are used for sacrifice, they become symbols by which people show that they are willing to give up some of their own benefits for the sake of satisfying the needs of their poorer brethren.

Allah also says: To every people did We appoint rites [of sacrifice] that they might celebrate the name of Allah over the sustenance He gave them from animals (fit for food). But your God is One God: Submit then your wills to Him [In Islam]: and give thou the good news to those who humble themselves. [Al-Hajj 22:34]

The true end of the sacrifice is not in flesh and blood, but as a symbol of thanksgiving to Allah by sharing meat with fellow humans. The solemn pronouncement of Allah's name over the sacrifice is an essential part of the rite.

Allah says further: It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you that ye may glorify Allah for His guidance to you: And proclaim the Good News to all who do right. [Al-Hajj 22:37]

It is quite clear from the Qur'anic passages above, the issue of animal sacrifice is that we are commanded to thanks and praise Allah for the sustenance He has given them and that they should sacrifice something of value to themselves to demonstrate their appreciation for what they have been given, which in their case was the very animals on which their survival was based.

Ibrahim and Isma'il: A model for Sacrifice

I got tempted by the words of Dr. Munir El-Kassem,an assistant professor at UWO,Canada and used them. Although it was not a new subject it is worthwhile to revisit. He said that Hajj and `Eidul Adha were originated when a 97-year-old man was asked to take the life of a 13–year-old boy. He raised three points: who was that man, who was the boy and who was making the request?. He said if we know the three points in this equation are, we would have a better perspective on life and on what life is all about.

The man who was asked at 97 years of age to take the life of a 13-year-old boy is none other than Prophet Ibrahim [peace be upon him], the father of the prophets and messengers. And the 13-year-old boy whose life Ibrahim was asked to take is none other than his own son. Ibrahim had waited for 83 years to see him walk around him, touch him, and give him the pleasure of being a father. All of us know what that means; all of us know what it really means for our son or daughter to come and show his or her love that he or she possesses for us.

But when the boy reached the age when he was able to run and play around his father, Ibrahim went to him and said, “My loving son, I saw in my dream that I was sacrificing you.” We all know that the dreams of prophets and messengers are forms of revelation from Allah Almighty. So it was the truth.

Now, who was the one who made that request? It was none other than Allah. The One Who created life had asked Ibrahim to take the life of his son away. And we know that His decree was that Isma`il’s life would not be taken away, but it was a lesson for humanity to understand what life is all about.

Allah wanted Ibrahim to teach humanity a lesson. Thus, we have to understand this lesson and reflect upon it. There are two things in life that Allah Almighty made beautiful in this life. These two things are mentioned in the Qur’an more than once:

Wealth and children are an ornament of the life of the world.[Al-Kahf 18:46]

The wealth and children make life beautiful. Look what happened! Allah Almighty chose one individual to sacrifice one of these two things, and He did not ask any other human being to do the same. One individual was enough to sacrifice one of these two things, and that is his child, and He asked all of us to sacrifice the second one, wealth, so that by seeing how one man was able to do something which we cannot, we are able to sacrifice the second of the ornaments of life. Because Ibrahim succeeded in that test, Allah Almighty called him an ummah, which means one man was equaivalent to a whole nation i.e a whole ummah.

One individual,Prophet became an ummah, simply he had passed the test as and of a whole ummah. He was asked to sacrifice one of the two things that are ornaments of life, and all of us have been asked to sacrifice the second. So because of that, he indeed, is an ummah in the same way that we are an ummah. He truly deserves that title:

Lo! Abraham was an ummah, obedient to Allah. [An-Nahl 16:120]

This is the spirit of `Eidul-Adha we were called upon by Allah to sacrifice what we really like to keep:

Ye will not attain unto Birr [piety and perfect goodness] until ye spend of that which ye love.[Aal `Imran 3:92]

Dr.Munir said that if you have a lot of money and you take a thousand dollars and give it away, this would not be considered as birr. Birr is to have two dollars and to give one of the dollars away although you need the two dollars and would like to keep them for essentials. This is a sacrifice. Sacrifice is to do something that one find difficult to do. It is not a sacrifice to do an easy thing and then to appear at the surface as if you have done a lot. Allah Almighty knows best what sacrifice is.

So, my fellow Muslims let us now give due consideration what we really need to sacrifice.

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