Chapter: The prohibition on anyone who witnesses the first ten days of Dhul-Ḥijjah and intends to offer a sacrifice from removing any of his hair or nails until he has slaughtered.

1706 – Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever owns an animal he intends to slaughter, once the crescent of Dhul-Ḥijjah is sighted, let him not remove anything from his hair or his nails until he has sacrificed.” Muslim recorded it.

The chapter that follows, then, is the ruling that a person who wishes to offer a sacrifice must not cut any of his hair or nails until after the animal is slaughtered. This is established by the ḥadīth of Umm Salamah just cited, in which the Prophet ﷺ said: “When the crescent of Dhul-Ḥijjah appears and one of you has an animal to slaughter, let him not touch his hair or his nails”—meaning, until he has sacrificed.

Accordingly, when the first ten days of Dhul-Ḥijjah begin and you intend to offer a sacrificial animal—on your own behalf or on behalf of someone else with your money—do not take anything from your hair: not from the armpits, the pubic region, the moustache, or the head, until you have slaughtered. Likewise, do not remove any nail, whether from the feet or the hands, until the sacrifice is done. Another wording outside Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim adds: “nor from his skin,” meaning his flesh; he should not remove anything until he has sacrificed.

This is out of reverence for the sacrifice and so that those who are not in a state of pilgrimage may share in the respect shown to the hair and nails of the pilgrim. For when a person performs ḥajj or ʿumrah he does not shave his head until the hady (sacrificial animal) reaches its place. Allah, exalted is He, wished to grant His servants who have not performed ḥajj or ʿumrah a share in the rites of devotion. And Allah knows best.