Chapter on the Conduct of Sacrificial Offerings

The optimal way to slaughter a sacrificial animal is for the person himself to take the knife in hand and do the slaughtering; he should not delegate it to another. If he chooses not to, there is no sin provided someone else performs the slaughter at his instruction. Should a son, appointed agent, or similar helper slaughter it on his behalf without explicit permission, the act is still valid.

If someone else slaughters a man’s sacrificial animal without his consent, that person is liable and must pay its full value; the owner should then use that amount to buy a replacement. Should someone seize the animal and slaughter it as his own offering, he likewise owes its value, and the sacrifice does not count for him.

If the sacrificial animal gives birth, it is recommended—though not obligatory according to Mālik—to slaughter the newborn alongside its mother. No one but a Muslim may carry out the slaughter of a sacrificial animal or any devotional offering; if a non-Muslim performs it, the rite is invalid. Some maintain it would still be valid, albeit disliked—this is the view of Ashhab—but the first opinion is the definitive position of the school, and it is the one I follow.

A person may eat from his sacrifice and may feed both the poor and the wealthy, whether the meat is raw or cooked, but he should give it only to Muslims. Mālik sets no fixed proportion for what is to be eaten, given away, or stored. We clarified this in al-Tamhīd while discussing the Prophet’s words, “Eat, give in charity, and store away.”

There is no objection to benefiting from the hides of the sacrificial animals, yet nothing from the animal may be sold. Its meat is not to be bartered, nor may any part serve as payment for tanning the hide, and the butcher may not be remunerated with any of its meat for slaughtering or skinning it. Should the hide be sold, its price must be given in charity. The head ought to be marked so it is not confused in the communal oven; if two heads become mixed, each person should release the other from any surplus that may have come to him.