My friend donated his living Udh-hiyah (sacrificial animal) to a poor family which he favored to himself. Shall he get the reward of offering the Udh-hiyah?

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 this man gave the sheep to the family to slaughter as an Udh-hiyah on behalf of him and get benefit from its flesh, then he will have deputized them to slaughter it on behalf of him and given them its flesh in charity. In this case, it counts as a valid Udh-hiyah on his part, for which he will receive a reward Allaah willing.

However, if he donated this living sheep to them, which thus became their own property, and they slaughtered it on behalf of themselves, then he would get the reward of the charity and not for the Udh-hiyah. In this case, he has acted contrary to what is preferable or better for him to do. No doubt, offering Udh-hiyah or ‘Aqeeqah is better than giving its price or value in charity. This action does not constitute a form of the praiseworthy altruism, because favoring others over oneself with what draws the slave near to Allaah is not valid, under the Sharee'ah, in the sight of the majority of scholars. The benefit of the poor, as far as eating from the flesh of the Udh-hiyah is concerned, may be achieved without making them own the Udh-hiyah. He can slaughter the Udh-hiyah and give them its flesh in charity or deputize them to slaughter it on his behalf.

Allaah Knows best.