Sacrificing a pregnant ewe

14/10/2010| IslamWeb

Question:

What is the ruling on the person who assigned a female ewe as a sacrifice and discovered that it was pregnant, is it unfavorable to slaughter her if he knows that she will give birth?

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Scholars had different opinions on the ruling of sacrificing a pregnant animal. The majority of them think it is permissible to sacrifice it.

According to Fiqh Encyclopedia, the majority of jurists did not categorize pregnancy as a defect in the sacrificial animal except for the Shaafi‘i jurists who declared that a pregnant animal would not fit as a sacrifice. Their argument is that pregnancy corrupts the inside of the animal and downgrades the quality of its meat.

Thus, it is better not to choose a pregnant animal to avoid the difference in opinions among the scholars. However, if the animal proved to be pregnant after it was already assigned for sacrifice, we find nothing wrong in sacrificing it, and the slaughter of the mother suffices the fetus for being lawful for eating. This is the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah who said, “Sacrificing a pregnant animal is permissible. If her baby turns out to be dead, then it is lawful to be consumed since its mother has been slaughtered, according to Ash-Shaafi‘i, Ahmad and other scholars. This applies to the baby regardless of whether or not it has grown hair. If it turns out to be alive, then it is to be slaughtered. According to Maalik, if the baby has grown hair, then it is permissible to be consumed and vice versa. According to Abu Haneefah, the baby would not be permissible until it is slaughtered after it is born.”

Allah Knows best.