Refraining from eating on the day of Adh-ha applies only to the owner of the udh-hiyah till he slaughters it

17-9-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Should all the family members refrain from eating on the day of ‘Eed Adh-ha until they eat from the udh-hiyah or is this obligatory on the head of the family only?

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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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Buraydah narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to eat before going out on the day of ‘Eed Al-Fitr but that he did not eat on the day of Nahr until he returned so that he would eat from his sacrifice. [Ahmad and At-Tirmithi]

An-Nawawi said: “The chain of narrators is good. It is a hasan (good) hadith.” Al-Haakim said: “It is a saheeh (authentic) hadith.”

Az-Zayla‘i said in Tabyeen Al-Haqaa’iq: “This applies to the owner of the Udh-hiyah so that he eats from it. This does not apply to others.”

It was said in Kashshaaf Al-Qinaa': “The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to not eat on the Day of Nahr until he returned so that he would eat from his udh-hiyah. If he was not going to slaughter a sacrifice, then he would eat.”

It is stated in Tuhfat Al-Ahwathi that: “Ahmad ibn Hanbal singled out the recommendation of delaying eating on the day of Adh-ha for the owner of sacrifice.”

Therefore, we can deduce two matters:

First: refraining from food on the day of Adh-ha till the udh-hiyah is slaughtered. Eating from it is a recommendation, not an obligation.

Second: this applies specifically to the owner of the udh-hiyah rather than the members of his family, according to the apparent meaning of the above mentioned hadiths. This is the opinion stated by scholars.

Allah Knows best.