Qurbani (Udhiyah): Who Must Give It, Animals, Timing and Distribution

Qurbani is the sacrifice of a sheep, goat, cow or camel for the sake of Allah during the days of Eid al-Adha. Udhiyah is the Arabic name; qurbani, Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari explains, is the Urdu and Persian word from qurban, an act done to seek Allah's pleasure.

It looks back to Ibrahim: Quran 37:102-107 describes his dream that he must sacrifice his son, the son's patient acceptance and the ransom of a tremendous sacrifice. Quran 22:34 gives every community a rite of mentioning Allah's name over livestock, Quran 108:2 commands prayer and sacrifice, and Quran 22:37 says that neither meat nor blood reaches Allah, only devotion.

In Sahih al-Bukhari 5545 the Prophet says the day begins with the prayer and then the sacrifice, and whoever does this has followed the Sunnah. A popular report in Sunan Ibn Majah 3127 promising a reward for every hair of the animal is graded da'if (Darussalam) on sunnah.com, so do not rely on it.

Sources: [28] [1] [3] [4] [5] [21]

It depends on your school. Shaykh Faraz A. Khan explains that the relied-upon Hanafi position, Abu Hanifa's own, is that qurbani is necessary (wajib). Ustadh Salman Younas gives the conditions: a sane, adult, resident Muslim who owns about 612 grams of silver, or its value in other wealth beyond basic needs and immediate debts. Each person who qualifies gives their own, so a husband, wife and adult son may each owe one.

The other schools call it an emphasised Sunnah. Shaykh Idris Watts gives the Maliki position for every free Muslim, resident or traveller, who can spare the cost, and Shaykh Faraz Khan notes a second narration from Imam Malik that it is necessary. Shaykh Hamza Karamali's Shafi'i account calls it a confirmed Sunnah for those who can afford it, and the Hanbali summary on IslamQA says it is disliked to leave and better than giving its value in charity.

Sunan Ibn Majah 3123, graded hasan (Darussalam) on sunnah.com, reports the Prophet saying that whoever can afford a sacrifice and does not offer one should not come near the prayer place.

Sources: [22] [23] [24] [29] [33] [31] [20]

A sheep or goat counts as one sacrifice, but the schools differ over whether it covers a household. Jami at-Tirmidhi 1505, graded sahih (Darussalam) on sunnah.com, records Abu Ayyub al-Ansari saying that in the Prophet's time a man sacrificed one sheep for himself and his household. In the Arabic on that page, al-Tirmidhi notes that Ahmad and Ishaq followed this, while Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak and others held that a sheep suffices for one person only.

Sahih Muslim 1318a records Jabir saying that in the year of Hudaybiyah a camel was sacrificed for seven people and a cow for seven. Ustadh Salman Younas's Hanafi answer accepts a seventh of a cow or camel as one person's sacrifice, and the Shafi'i account says each fulfils the Sunnah for seven. The Maliki answer differs: people may not club together to share the price of any animal.

Sources: [18] [11] [23] [29] [24] [31]

Only sheep, goats, cattle (including buffalo) and camels, male or female, are valid, and each must reach a minimum age, set out by school in the table at the end of this section. Sahih Muslim 1963 reports the Prophet saying to sacrifice only a grown animal, a musinnah, unless that is difficult, and then a young sheep, a jadha'ah. In Sahih al-Bukhari 5556 a young goat was accepted from Abu Burda alone, with the words that it would not suffice for anyone after him.

The animal must also be free of obvious defects. In Sunan Abi Dawud 2802, graded sahih by al-Albani on sunnah.com, the Prophet names four that are not allowed: an animal obviously blind in one eye, obviously sick, obviously lame, or so emaciated that it has no marrow. Jami at-Tirmidhi 1497, graded sahih (Darussalam), gives the same four. The Shafi'i account excludes any defect that reduces the meat, and the Hanafi answer adds the examples below.

• A horn broken off at the root, though a missing or half-broken horn is acceptable.
• A third or more of an ear or the tail cut off, or no ears from birth.
• Most of the teeth lost, or too weak to walk to the place of slaughter.

Sources: [12] [6] [16] [17] [28] [29] [30] [24]

The sacrifice begins after the Eid prayer: Sahih al-Bukhari 5545 records that an animal slaughtered before it is only meat for one's family. The Hanafi answer lets a village with no Eid prayer begin after dawn on the 10th; the Shafi'i account begins once there has been time after sunrise for two short rak'ahs and two short sermons; and the Hanbali summary begins when the earliest Eid prayer in the area has finished.

Shaykh Dr Muhammad Fayez Awad explains on SeekersGuidance that the days of sacrifice are the 10th, 11th and 12th of Dhul Hijjah in the Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali schools, while the Shafi'i school adds the 13th; the Hanbali summary says a sacrifice on the 13th is not valid in that school. The Hanafi answer prefers the first day, and the Shafi'i and Hanbali accounts dislike slaughtering at night.

For a sacrifice abroad, Shaykh Faraz A. Khan's Hanafi answer says the timing is judged by the place of slaughter, so it must still follow the Eid prayer there.

Sources: [5] [28] [29] [33] [27] [26]

Yes, someone intending to sacrifice is taught to leave their hair and nails from the start of Dhul Hijjah until the animal is slaughtered, though the schools differ on how strict this is. In Sahih Muslim 1977g Umm Salamah reports the Prophet saying that whoever has an animal to sacrifice should take nothing from his hair or nails once the new moon of Dhul Hijjah appears, until he has sacrificed.

The Federal Territory Mufti of Malaysia gives the Shafi'i position that refraining is Sunnah and cutting is mildly disliked, noting al-Nawawi's report that Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, Ahmad and others read the hadith as a prohibition. The Hanbali summary says the Hanbali school prohibits cutting, and Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam's Hanafi answer calls refraining recommended. Ask a Maliki teacher how that school applies it, and if a charity sacrifices for you, find out when it is done.

Sources: [15] [34] [33] [28] [29]

Eat from it, give from it and store what you need. Quran 22:28 and 22:36 tell believers to eat from the sacrifice and feed the poor and those who ask. In Sahih Muslim 1971 the Prophet explains that an earlier three-day limit on keeping the meat was because poor people had arrived, then permits eating, storing and giving in charity; Sahih al-Bukhari 5569 says the same.

The Hanafi answer prefers thirds: for the home, for relatives and friends, and for the poor. The Hanbali summary calls thirds Sunnah, accepts other divisions and requires the poor to be given raw meat. Shaykh Hamza Karamali's Shafi'i account prefers giving nearly all of it away, accepts the common practice of thirds, and requires some uncooked meat to go to the poor.

Pay the butcher separately. Sahih al-Bukhari 1716 and Sahih Muslim 1317a record Ali being told to give the meat and skins in charity and nothing from them to the butcher, with the words that they would pay him themselves. The Hanafi and Shafi'i answers add that neither meat nor skin may be sold.

Sources: [2] [3] [14] [8] [28] [33] [29] [9] [10]

Yes, giving qurbani through a trusted charity or agent, including overseas, is widely practised. Shaykh Hamza Karamali's Shafi'i account says it is valid to pay someone to buy and slaughter an animal in another country, and Shaykh Faraz A. Khan's Hanafi answer agrees. Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam stresses that each person's animal or share should be identified before slaughter, not assigned afterwards.

Before donating, look the charity up through the GOV.UK search of the charity register for England and Wales. The page notes that Scotland and Northern Ireland keep separate registers and that some small or excepted charities are not listed.

In England and Wales, government guidance allows slaughter without stunning only in a slaughterhouse approved by the Food Standards Agency, by someone with a certificate of competence, and says the same rules apply to qurbani. The agency's home slaughter guide lets an owner slaughter at home only for their own household, after stunning, and does not allow the meat to be given to anyone outside that household, so qurbani meat that will be shared must come from an approved slaughterhouse.

Sources: [29] [26] [28] [36] [37] [38]

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