A man left a will stating that if he died, a sacrifice should be offered on his behalf. Do the rulings of the Udh-hiyah (sacrificial animal) apply to this sacrifice with regard to the permissibility that his heirs should eat of it? Or is it subject to the rulings of a will in the sense that all of it should be given in charity? Please advise us, may Allaah reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

If a deceased, before his death, left a will to the effect that a sacrifice be offered on behalf of him, then his heirs should carry out his will, and it is permissible for them to eat and feed others of it, according to the Maliki and Hanbali scholars. But the opinion of the Shaafi‘i scholars, which is the chosen opinion of the Hanafi scholars, goes for the impermissibility to eat from it and that it should be given in charity. According to Matalib Uli An-Nuha, a book on the Hanbali school of Fiqh:

To offer a sacrifice on behalf of a deceased is better than to do so on behalf of a living, because the former is incapable and in dire need for the reward. Offering an udh-hiyah on behalf of a deceased is subject to the same rulings of offering an udh-hiyah on behalf of a living in terms of eating and giving in charity or as a gift thereof. If a sacrifice giver dies after or even before slaughtering it, then his heir shall succeed him as regards eating and giving in charity or as a gift, just as he does concerning his other rights. But it should not be sold to pay off his debt.

According to Tuhfat Al-Muhtaj, a book on the Shaafi‘i school of Fiqh:

As for his saying, "It is due on one who offers a sacrifice on behalf of a deceased by his leave…," it is stated on the commentary on Ar-Rawdh that it is favorable to eat from the voluntary udh-hiyah if one offers it on behalf of himself. If he offers an udh-hiyah on behalf of another by his leave, such as a deceased who makes a will to this effect, then it is not allowable for him or for anyone of the rich to eat of it. That is the statement of Al-Qaffal concerning the deceased. He justified his view by the fact that the udh-hiyah has been offered on behalf of him, and it is unlawful to eat of it without his leave, and since taking his leave is impossible (after his death), then it should be given in charity on his behalf.

Allaah knows best.