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Fatwa CenterSelling goats for grand wedding feasts and to non-Muslims
Question
Assalaamu alaikum. A person is selling goats. In his area, the Muslims are not aware of the Sharia of marriage compelling the girl's family to provide a feast in marriage, and many are conducting a grand marriage. So can a goat seller provide goats for this kind of marriages? I heard that a person should pet a goat before slaughtering it for Eid Al-Adhha, but many are buying goats one or two days before Eid and slaughter them on the day of Eid. So is this also ok for a goat seller; to provide goats before Eid? And can he sell to non-Muslims who slaughter in an un-Islamic way?
Answer
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.
The fact that the wedding feasts are grand does not make them prohibited in principle. Likewise, it does not make it prohibited to sell animals to be served in such feasts. The basic principle in this regard is that selling the animals is permissible.
As for your statement, "One should pet a goat before slaughtering it for 'Eed Al-Adhha", we do not know of any basis in the Islamic Sharee'ah for this, and the question based on it is thus of no consideration at all.
As for the ruling on the Muslim selling his sheep to a non-Muslim, the basic principle is that it is permissible. Please, refer to fatwa 130135.
However, some scholars held that if the seller knew with certainty or believed that the buyer would most likely kill the animal instead of slaughtering it, then it is impermissible for him to sell it to such a buyer so that he would not help him commit a sin. Al-Haytami 
was asked, "What is the ruling on selling musk to a disbeliever of whom the seller knows that he is buying it to apply it to his idol, or on selling an animal to a belligerent non-Muslim (a non-Muslim who is in a state of war with Muslims) of whom he knows that he is going to kill it without slaughtering it properly in order to eat it?"
He replied:
"It is prohibited to sell to him in both cases. In every case in which the seller knows that the buyer is going to use (the item) for sinful purposes, it is prohibited for him to sell it to him. Applying perfume to idols and killing animals for food without slaughtering them properly are two grave sins, even in relation to non-Muslims, because the correct scholarly view is that the rules of the Sharee'ah address non-Muslims just as they address Muslims. Therefore, it is not permissible to help anyone commit these two sins by selling him something that would serve as a means for him to commit them." [Al-Fataawa Al-Fiqhiyyah Al-Kubra]
Allaah knows best.
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