His statement, “or appoint a Muslim,” indicates that it is not valid to appoint a Jew or Christian, even though the slaughter of a Jew or Christian is lawful. However, since slaughtering this sacrificial animal or offering this camel is an act of worship, it is not valid to appoint a Jew or Christian to perform it. This is because such a person is not qualified for worship or for drawing near to Allah: he is a disbeliever, and his worship is not accepted.
But if he appoints a Jew or Christian to slaughter an animal or sacrifice a camel for him to eat, there is nothing wrong with that. Thus, an Eid sacrifice or a pilgrimage offering may not be performed by a non-Muslim, because he is not qualified for acts of devotion. If it is not valid for him to perform it for himself, then it is not valid for him to perform it on behalf of another. For this reason, the author stipulated that one appoint a Muslim and witness it. Yet, because the Jew or Christian is acting as the proxy of a Muslim in this act of worship, the matter is less serious: it is disliked for him to personally slaughter Eid sacrifices, pilgrimage offerings, and newborn sacrifices, but this does not render the slaughtered animal unlawful.
His statement, “The time for slaughter is after the Eid prayer, or its equivalent, until two days thereafter,” means that the permissible time for slaughter begins on the day of Eid after the prayer. “Or its equivalent” means the amount of time taken by the prayer, for those who do not have an Eid prayer, and it lasts until the end of the two days following it.
Accordingly, the days of slaughter would be only three: the day of Eid and the two days after it. Yet there is no evidence in this matter to establish that slaughter may be performed on the two days after Eid. Rather, we must either say that slaughter is limited to the day of Eid alone, or that it extends throughout all the days of Tashriq.
The basis for the first view is that the day among these days known as the Day of Sacrifice is the day of Eid; therefore, sacrifice is particular to that day. Some scholars held that the day of slaughter is the day of Eid alone.
As for the second view, it has evidence that we shall mention later. As for restricting it to two days