Is it better in this time to send the value of the sacrificial animals to poor countries, or to slaughter them here?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Is it better, O Shaykh, in this time to send the sacrificial animals to a poor country, or is it better to slaughter them here?
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you for this question. This is an important question, and it is: sending the value of the sacrificial animals to poor countries to be sacrificed there.
Some people do this, and indeed they go further by placing advertisements in newspapers or other media to encourage people to send sacrificial animals to other countries. This usually stems from ignorance, from ignorance of the objectives of the Shari'ah and from ignorance of the legal ruling. The primary objective of the sacrifice is to draw near to Allah the Exalted by slaughtering it, for slaughtering is one of the greatest acts of worship. Indeed, Allah Mighty and Majestic linked it with prayer:[Al-Kawthar 108:2], [Al-An'am 6:162] on the view that the ritual here is slaughtering.
The slaughtering itself is an act of worship that can never be achieved if you send the money to another country and it is slaughtered on your behalf. And Allah the Exalted said in His Book:[Al-Hajj 22:37] Second: if a person sends it to another country, he misses the mention of the name of Allah over it. And Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Hajj 22:34] So He made the mention of the name of Allah the operative cause for these rituals that Allah Mighty and Majestic established. And this mention will be missed if it is done there, and perhaps the one who slaughters it does not mention the name at all. Third: if you send it abroad, you miss eating from it. And Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Hajj 22:28] The command to eat from it is obligatory according to the opinion of many scholars. So if you send it abroad, you miss carrying out this command, whether it is obligatory or recommended.
Fourth: if you send it abroad, the great ritual that Allah the Exalted established in the lands of the Muslims in place of the great ritual that Allah the Exalted established in Makkah is obscured. In Makkah, the ritual that takes place there is the hady, and in the other lands of the Muslims, the ritual is the udhiyah.
So Allah Glorified and Exalted is He established these rituals: the slaughtering of the hady in Makkah and the slaughtering of the udhiyah on the other day, so that the rituals are established in all the lands of Islam.
For this reason, Allah Glorified and Exalted is He gave one who intends to sacrifice some of the characteristics of ihram, such as avoiding taking hair, for example, the sixth or seventh point, I forgot.
The questioner : The fifth point.
The Shaykh : No, the sixth or seventh:
That this ritual may be lost for our sons and daughters if the sacrifice is in the house. The whole family feels it and feels that they are in obedience. If you send the money, what makes them aware of it? So this ritual is missed.
So we say that it is a clear error to send the value of the sacrifices to outside the country to be sacrificed there, because all these benefits, and perhaps other things that do not come to my mind now, are missed by this action.
Then, it is also the seventh point that people begin to look at the sacrifice with a purely material view, which is feeding the hungry. And this is also a harm. And Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Hajj 22:37] And if you are sincere in worshipping Allah with the sacrifice and benefiting your Muslim brothers, sacrifice in your country and send the money, food, and clothing to the other countries. What prevents you from doing this?
I hope from you, may Allah reward you, that you clarify to people that this is an error and that they do not send the value of their sacrifices to other countries, but rather they sacrifice in their homes. And do not respond to this by saying that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) entrusted Ali ibn Abi Talib with the slaughtering of his hady, or that he sent the hady from Madinah to Makkah, because sending the hady from Madinah to Makkah is necessary, for there is no hady except in Makkah. If he had slaughtered it in Madinah, it would not have been hady.
As for entrusting Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) entrusted him because he was occupied with the affairs of the people; the people needed him to devote himself to them. And with that, he ordered a piece from every camel to be put in a pot, cooked, and he ate from its meat and drank from its broth until he left eating from it.
So we hope, may Allah reward you, that you strive to educate people. It is said: what is the objective of the meat? If the poor person benefits from it, the most important thing is what? Drawing near to Allah by the slaughtering which He made a companion to prayer. And you are not prevented from benefiting them and sending them money; there is no preventer. And here our meeting ends because the time has been given, so we ask Allah to accept from us and from you, and until the next meeting, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you for this question. This is an important question, and it is: sending the value of the sacrificial animals to poor countries to be sacrificed there.
Some people do this, and indeed they go further by placing advertisements in newspapers or other media to encourage people to send sacrificial animals to other countries. This usually stems from ignorance, from ignorance of the objectives of the Shari'ah and from ignorance of the legal ruling. The primary objective of the sacrifice is to draw near to Allah the Exalted by slaughtering it, for slaughtering is one of the greatest acts of worship. Indeed, Allah Mighty and Majestic linked it with prayer:
So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone].
فصل لربك وانحرSay, "Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds.
قل إن صلاتي ونسكي ومحياي ومماتي لله رب العالمينThe slaughtering itself is an act of worship that can never be achieved if you send the money to another country and it is slaughtered on your behalf. And Allah the Exalted said in His Book:
Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you
لن ينال الله لحومها ولا دماؤها ولكن يناله التقوى منكمAnd for all religion We have appointed a rite [of sacrifice] that they may mention the name of Allah
ولكل أمة جعلنا منسكًا ليذكروا اسم اللهSo eat of them and feed the miserable and poor.
فكلوا منها وأطعموا البائس الفقيرFourth: if you send it abroad, the great ritual that Allah the Exalted established in the lands of the Muslims in place of the great ritual that Allah the Exalted established in Makkah is obscured. In Makkah, the ritual that takes place there is the hady, and in the other lands of the Muslims, the ritual is the udhiyah.
So Allah Glorified and Exalted is He established these rituals: the slaughtering of the hady in Makkah and the slaughtering of the udhiyah on the other day, so that the rituals are established in all the lands of Islam.
For this reason, Allah Glorified and Exalted is He gave one who intends to sacrifice some of the characteristics of ihram, such as avoiding taking hair, for example, the sixth or seventh point, I forgot.
The questioner : The fifth point.
The Shaykh : No, the sixth or seventh:
That this ritual may be lost for our sons and daughters if the sacrifice is in the house. The whole family feels it and feels that they are in obedience. If you send the money, what makes them aware of it? So this ritual is missed.
So we say that it is a clear error to send the value of the sacrifices to outside the country to be sacrificed there, because all these benefits, and perhaps other things that do not come to my mind now, are missed by this action.
Then, it is also the seventh point that people begin to look at the sacrifice with a purely material view, which is feeding the hungry. And this is also a harm. And Allah the Exalted said:
Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you
لن ينال الله لحومها ولا دماؤها ولكن يناله التقوى منكمI hope from you, may Allah reward you, that you clarify to people that this is an error and that they do not send the value of their sacrifices to other countries, but rather they sacrifice in their homes. And do not respond to this by saying that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) entrusted Ali ibn Abi Talib with the slaughtering of his hady, or that he sent the hady from Madinah to Makkah, because sending the hady from Madinah to Makkah is necessary, for there is no hady except in Makkah. If he had slaughtered it in Madinah, it would not have been hady.
As for entrusting Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) entrusted him because he was occupied with the affairs of the people; the people needed him to devote himself to them. And with that, he ordered a piece from every camel to be put in a pot, cooked, and he ate from its meat and drank from its broth until he left eating from it.
So we hope, may Allah reward you, that you strive to educate people. It is said: what is the objective of the meat? If the poor person benefits from it, the most important thing is what? Drawing near to Allah by the slaughtering which He made a companion to prayer. And you are not prevented from benefiting them and sending them money; there is no preventer. And here our meeting ends because the time has been given, so we ask Allah to accept from us and from you, and until the next meeting, if Allah wills.