Book of Sacrificial Offerings
Chapter: The Udḥiyah—its obligation, those upon whom it is due, and what it must comprise

In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful. May blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.

Chapter: The Udḥiyah—its obligation, those upon whom it is due, and what it must comprise

According to Mālik, the udḥiyah (the ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā sacrifice) is a sunnah that is incumbent upon every free man or woman who can afford it. It is one of the highly confirmed sunnah practices for which people are pressed and not excused for neglecting, much like the two ʿĪd prayers. In this ruling townspeople and Bedouins, residents and travellers, are all the same—except the pilgrims who are in Mina, for no udḥiyah is required of them; their sunnah is to offer the hady.

Mālik also said: In Mina, giving the price of the udḥiyah in charity is more preferable to me. A guardian sacrifices on behalf of an orphan—whether the child is still young or has reached majority—just as he pays the child’s zakāt al-fiṭr. No sacrifice is offered on behalf of a slave, nor is the slave obliged to offer one for himself. There is no harm in a man offering a sacrifice for an umm walad (a slave-woman who has borne him a child).

For Mālik, the udḥiyah is different from the hady: the hady becomes obligatory by verbal designation, by placing a collar on the animal, or by marking it, whereas the udḥiyah does not become binding in that way.