Sacrificing
an animal within the rituals of Hajj is from the greatest of acts of worship.
It is from the greatest acts of worship that brings you close to Allaah,
Exalted and Glorified is He.
The
people of knowledge differed on its rulings, they stated two opinions:
1)
Obligatory: This is the view of Aboo
Haneefah and one of the views that have been attributed to Imaam Ahmad and
Imaam Maalik. It is the chosen opinion of Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Taymiyyah.
2)
Recommended: meaning it is not
obligatory. This is the opinion of Imaam ash-Shaafi’ee and the well-known
opinion of Imaam Ahmad and Imaam Maalik. This is the correct view, it being
highly recommended. The following evidences exemplify this:
a) The
first proof to show that it is not obligatory to do Udhiyah is the fact that
the origin of a command in Islam is not an obligation for the Muslim to carry
out, unless it is stated that the command is obligatory for every Muslim to do.
And I do not know any evidence to suggest that it is obligatory and as for some
of the text that suggest it is obligatory then I say that they are not
authentic.[1]
b)
The second proof to prove that the sacrifice is not an obligation on every
Muslim is the narration collected by Aboo Dawood [2789] on the authority of
‘Amr ibn ‘Aaas that the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of
Allaah be upon him] said,
“I
have been commanded to take the day of sacrifice as an Eid as Allaah the
Exalted and Glorified has made it such for this Ummah”.
So a
man said, “What do you think about a man who only has one female goat, should
he sacrifice it?”
The
Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him]
replied, “No, but cut your hair and nails, trim your moustache and shave your
pubic hairs. This will be a complete sacrifice for you with Allaah the Exalted
and Glorified”.
This
occurred on the day of Eid or sacrifice. The point of evidence in the hadeeth
is the fact that the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon
him] did not order the man to sacrifice this female goat, had it been
obligatory he surely would have commanded him to do so.
c)
The third piece of evidence to prove that the sacrifice for this Eid is not
obligatory comes in the narration reported by Imaam Muslim in his Saheeh [1977]
on the authority of Umm Salamah [May Allah be Pleased with her] who said that
the Messenger of Allaah [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him]
said,
“If
the ten days of Dhul Hijjah start and you want to make a sacrifice…..” until
the end of the hadeeth.
The
point here is that the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon
him] left doing the sacrifice to the preference of the person. [2]
d)
The fourth piece of evidence to prove that the sacrifice for this Eid is not
obligatory is proven by the fact that not one of the Companions [May Allaah be
Pleased with them all] held the opinion of it being obligatory. Ibn Hazm said
about this, “There is no single authentic narration from the companions to say
that the sacrifice is obligatory” [al-Muhalla 7/358].
Bayhaqi
[9/265] narrated with an authentic chain on the authority of Abee Sareehah al-Ghafaar who said, “I went to
Aboo Bakr -in another narration it says he saw Aboo Bakr and ‘Umar- and they
did not offer a sacrifice…”
Bayhaqi
[9/265] also narrated with a authentic chain that Abee Mas’ood al-Ansaari said,
“I did not sacrifice an animal even though I was wealthy…”
The
meaning of these narrations are also similar to that which has been narrated on
the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas and Bilaal [May Allah be Pleased with them both] as
well as others from the Companions [May Allaah be Pleased with them all].
Bukhaari
also reported[3]
that Ibn ‘Umar [May Allaah be Pleased with him] said, “The sacrifice is Sunnah
and it is well-known”.
And I
don’t know of any Companions [May Allaah be Pleased with them all] that
disagreed with the above, rather what has been narrated from the Companions
[May Allaah be Pleased with them all] is that the sacrifice is Sunnah.
It
has been reported from Aboo Hurayrah [May Allaah be Pleased with him] that he
mentioned the ruling of the sacrifice being Sunnah and based this on the report
from the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him].
He
narrated that the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him]
said,
“Whoever
is able to offer a sacrifice and doesn’t do so, should not come to the place of
out prayer”.
Reported
by Ahmad [2/321]; Ibn Maajah [3123] as well as others.
This
chain is weak because of the presence of Abd Allaah ibn ‘Ayaash, but the scholars
did differ on the acceptance of his narrations.
Ibn
Jawzee reported Imaam Ahmad saying that
Abd Allaah ibn ‘Ayaash is rejected in his narrations, however
ad-Daaraqtuni said that his narrations can’t be attributed to the Prophet[4]
[Tanqeeh
at-Tahqeeq 3/566]
I
say: other narrations that are similar to this also are weak in their chains.
Furthermore, the sacrifice being an obligation has not been attributed to any
of ther other major Companions [May Allaah be Pleased with them all], thus
proving that the Sacrifice is Sunnah and not obligatory. [5]
[1] It has been narrated in the two Saheehs, Bukhaari and Muslim, on
the authority of Anas, Junub ibn Sufyaan and Baraa’ ibn ‘Aazib which order the
person who is attending the Eid Prayer to sacrifice his animal after the
prayer, therefore these narrations can’t be used as proof as these narrations
are proof for ordering the person who wants to offer a sacrifice to do so after
the prayer. For example the narration of Junub ibn Sufyaan states, “Whoever
sacrifices his animal before the Eid Prayer then he should sacrifice another
sheep in its place, and whoever hasn’t yet sacrificed an animal should do so
with the name of Allaah over it.”
[2] Generally the scholars say that if we are ordered to do something
then it is obligatory even if we are given a choice about it, however this
isn’t always the case. Sometimes we are given a choice to do something or not
and it may not be obligatory. For example, the meeqat or the stations have been
set around Makkah for those who want to go on Hajj or ‘Umrah, none is allowed
to pass them until he has formed his intention and wore the Ihraam, thus making
it an obligation, but if a person doesn’t wish to do Hajj nor ‘Umrah then the
obligation of having an intention and wearing the Ihraam have been dropped.
This is an example, there are plenty others to prove this point as well, and
Allaah Knows best.
[3] The Book of Sacrifice; the chapter of the sacrifice being Sunnah
[5/2109]
[4] Meaning it can’t be attributed to the Prophet thus the chain stops
at Aboo Hurayrah and is attributed to him. [TN]
[5] Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen said about this topic,
“Offering the sacrifice is a very stressed Sunnah…Aboo Haneefah said it is
obligatory for the one who is able to offer the sacrifice and the one who
doesn’t offer it whilst he is able to do so is sinful. Shaykh al-Islaam ibn
Taymiyyah agreed with this opinion as it is from the symbols of Islaam…and this
view is a very strong one because of the various narrations that have been
narrated about it. Therefore a person should not leave doing the sacrifice if
he has the ability to offer the sacrifice” [Sharh al-Mumti’ Vol. 7 Chapter of
Hadee, Udhiyah and ‘Aqeeqah] [TN]
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