animal’s neck, whoever sees it understands that it is intended for the poor. This was customary in the time of the Prophet ﷺ and in the generations after him, until driving sacrificial animals for the Sacred House became less common among people and this practice came to be no longer recognized.
As for marking, it is done by making an incision in the camel’s hump until blood emerges and runs over its hair. Whoever sees it then knows that it has been prepared for slaughter.
Although marking causes the camel pain, it is permitted because of the overriding benefit involved, just as it is permitted to brand camels on their necks, ears, thighs, upper forelegs, and the like. Branding is done with fire, but it is allowed because of the benefit. Indeed, at times branding is obligatory, if preserving the camels collected as zakah or the horses used for jihad depends upon it, because whatever is necessary to fulfill an obligation is itself obligatory.
Thus, we say: a sacrificial animal for the Sacred House is formally designated by verbal declaration and by action accompanied by intention.
The verbal declaration is for one to say, “This is a sacrificial animal for the Sacred House.”
The action is marking, or garlanding it with the intention that it be a sacrificial animal for the Sacred House; through this it becomes such an animal. A number of rulings follow from whether or not it has been formally designated, which will be mentioned later.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, held that if one purchases it with the intention that it be an udhiyah, or with the intention that it be a sacrificial animal for the Sacred House, then it becomes a sacrificial animal for the Sacred House or an udhiyah, and that no verbal declaration is required. This is because the point is for it to be designated as an udhiyah or as a sacrificial animal for the Sacred House, and this is achieved through intention, based on the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: “Actions are only by intentions, and each person shall have only what he intended.” (1) However, the stronger view is that held by the author, may Allah have mercy on him.