Offering udh-hiyah (slaughtering) is a great ritual and a confirmed Sunnah for those who can afford it, and it is a glorious act of worship and a great rite that Muslims perform to draw nearer to their Lord on the day of Eid Al-Adh-ha and the following three days. Allah Almighty says (what means):

• {So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone].} [Quran 108:2]

• {And for all religion We have appointed a rite [of sacrifice] that they may mention the name of Allah over what He has provided for them of [sacrificial] animals. For your God is one God, so to Him submit. And [O Muhammad] give good tidings to the humble [before their Lord].} [Quran 22: 34]

Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Prophet settled at Medina for ten years, and he offered Udh-hiyah every year." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] When Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, was asked if udh-hiyah was obligatory, he said: "The Prophet offered it, and the Muslims after him did so too."

‘Aa’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated that the Prophet said: "The son of Adam had never done a deed on the day of Nahr more beloved to Allah than shedding the blood (of a sacrifice). The sacrifice will come on the Day of Judgment with its horns, nails and hair. Its blood will fall in a place by Allah before it falls on the ground, so make the soul agreeable with it." [At-Tirmithi: good]

When he was asked about the udh-hiyah, the Prophet said: "It is the tradition of your father Ibrahim." The Companions asked: "What is our reward?" He said: "In every hair there is a hasanah (unit of reward)." [Ibn Majah on the authority of Zayd ibn Arqam, and Al-Bayhaqi on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas, who said: “I have not spent silver (i.e. money) in something better than the udh-hiyah.”]

What proves its excellence is that Allah, the Exalted, combined the rite of sacrifice and prayer. Allah Almighty says (what means):

• {Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the worlds.} [Quran 6:162]

• {So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone].} [Quran 108:2]

The Prophet used to sacrifice and pray a lot. Muslims all over the world do these two acts of worship on the eid to draw closer to Allah.

Basically, the udh-hiyah is a good deed by which the Muslims draw closer to Allah on the eid. A deceased person can receive the reward of the udh-hiyah if he bequeathed part of the one third of his wealth that he may bequeath for this purpose or if one of his inheritors did so on his behalf or shared his udh-hiyah with him. The Prophet used to slaughter one ram for himself and his household; the living and the dead. ‘Aa’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, reported the following:

The Messenger of Allah commanded that a horned ram with black legs, a black belly and black (circles) round the eyes be brought to him so that he would sacrifice it. He said to ‘Aa’ishah: "Give me the large knife," and then said: "Sharpen it on a stone." She did that. He then took the knife and placed the ram on the ground and slaughtered it while saying: "Bismillaah, Allah-humma taqabbal min Muhammadin wa aal-i-Muhammadin." (In the Name of Allah, O Allah, accept [this sacrifice] on behalf of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.) [Muslim]

Abu Raafi‘ said: "We stayed for years without need for any man from Banu Haashim to offer udh-hyiah as Allah made the sacrifice of His messenger sufficient for us.” [Ahmad]

Abu Ayyoob, may Allah be pleased with, said: "During the days of the Messenger of Allah, a man would sacrifice a sheep on his behalf and on behalf of his household, and they would eat and feed others." [At-Tirmithi and Ibn Majah]

As udh-hiyah is a religious and general ritual in all countries, slaughtering it is superior to giving its price in charity, even if such charity is needed. This is because slaughtering it is a manifestation of the ritual and because the poor can be given from its meat after slaughtering it so that the two matters are fulfilled (slaughtering and charity); this is what the Prophet as well as his Rightly Guided Caliphs did. All of them used to slaughter udh-hiyah in spite of the poverty and neediness at their time. The Prophet used to motivate them to offer udh-hiyah and ordered them to distribute its meat to the poor and not to keep it for more than three days. Salamah ibn Al-Akwa‘, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said, "Whoever has slaughtered a sacrifice should not keep any of its meat after three days." The following year, the people said, "O Messenger of Allah! Shall we do as we did last year?" He said, "Eat of it and feed others, then store some of it, for in that year the people were having a hard time and I wanted you to help (the needy)." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Abu Sa‘eed, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet sacrificed a horned ram, trampling in blackness, walking in blackness, and looking in blackness."

Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Prophet slaughtered two rams, black and white in color (as sacrifices)." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said: "Slaughtering ‘afraa’ (a white ram) is more favorable to me than slaughtering two black rams." An ‘afraa’ is a sacrifice that is not purely white. Imam Ahmad said: “I like whiteness.”

If one contemplates the hadiths of the Prophet that deal with the udh-hiyah and his directions to his Ummah, then he will find that there are certain qualities that should exist in the udh-hiyah:

It should be a horned ram that has blackness mixed with whiteness, and the blackness should be around its mouth, eyes, belly and lower legs. Other parts should be whitish.

The eid sacrificial animal should have reached the age determined by the sharia, while sheep should be at least six months old to be sufficient. One should choose a fleshy animal so that it would be good-looking, and of age.

One should not slaughter his udh-hiyah before the eid prayer, and if he did, then it is not considered an udh-hiyah. In this case, one should slaughter another one. The time of slaughtering is extended till the sunset of the thirteenth of Thul-Hijjah because Prophet Muhammad said: "All the days of tashreeq are days of slaughtering."

One should witness the slaughtering of his udh-hiyah in order to follow the example of the Prophet . The udh-hiyah should be flawless (free from defects) because it is one of the rituals of Allah, and whoever honors the symbols of Allah, indeed, it is from the piety of hearts. The udh-hiyah should not be one-eyed, lame, sick, or bony nor have any other defects. That is why the Prophet ordered the Muslims to choose a fat and horned udh-hiyah.

Whoever wants to offer an udh-hiyah should abstain from cutting his hair or clipping his nails from the beginning of Thul-Hijjah till he slaughters his udh-hiyah. It was reported that the Prophet said: “When the [first] ten days of Thul-Hijjah commence and anyone of you intends to offer a sacrificial animal (udh-hiyah), he should not touch his hair (i.e. trim it, cut it or shave it) nor clip his nails.” [Muslim]