Then the Lawgiver explained that a superior substitute fulfils this obligation. The obligation to sacrifice an animal designated for the Eid sacrifice or as an offering for the Sacred Sanctuary is of the same nature as the obligation arising from a vow concerning a specifically designated thing. This shows that replacing it with something better is preferable to slaughtering that particular animal.

The same applies to a liability imposed by Islamic law: for example, when someone owes a one-year-old she-camel but gives a two-year-old she-camel, or owes a two-year-old she-camel but gives a three-year-old she-camel. A hadith from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recorded in the Sunan collections explains that giving something better than what is required suffices. It was narrated by Abū Dāwūd in his Sunan and by others.

Abū Dāwūd said:

Muhammad ibn Mansūr narrated to us; Ya‘qūb ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us; my father narrated to us, from Ibn Ishāq, who said: ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr narrated to me, from Yahyā ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Sa‘d ibn Zurārah, from ‘Umārah ibn ‘Amr ibn Hazm, from Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, who said:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent me as a zakat collector. I came to a man, and when he gathered his livestock for me, I found that he owed only a one-year-old she-camel. I told him, ‘Give a one-year-old she-camel, for that is the zakat you owe.’ He replied, ‘That provides neither milk nor a mount. Here, however, is a young, large, fat she-camel; take her.’ I told him, ‘I will not take what I have not been instructed to take. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is nearby. If you wish to go to him and offer him what you have offered me, then do so. If he accepts it from you, I will accept it; if he refuses it, I will refuse it.’ He said, ‘I shall do so.’ He went with me, bringing the she-camel he had offered me, until we came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He said, ‘O Prophet of Allah, your envoy came to collect the zakat on my livestock. By Allah, neither the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor any envoy of his had ever come to collect it before him. I gathered my livestock for him, and he stated that I owed only a one-year-old she-camel, and that is