5-   What is desirable at the slaughtering: It is preferable to turn the sacrifice towards the Qibla and to say: “I turn my face towards Him Who originated the heavens and the earth, as a truthful Muslim, and I am not of the atheists. My prayer and sacrifice , my living and my death are to Allah the Lord of the worlds.  He has no partner.  With this I have been commanded and I am the first of the Muslims”. When one commences slaughtering he has to say:  “ In the Name of Allah, and Allah is the Greatest, Our Lord, it is from You and to You”.

6-   The validity of entrustment in it: It is desirable for the Muslim to  slaughter his sacrifice himself, and if he entrusts any one on his behalf, it is permissible.  There is no dispute in this among scholars.

7-    The desirable distribution: It is desirable that the sacrifice be divided into thirds: His family eat one third, and they give in charity one third, and they give the remaining one third to their friends.  That is for his saying (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him):  “Eat and save, and give in charity”.  And it is permissible to give it all in charity, as it is permissible to save a part of it. 

8- The wage for its butcher from other than it: The butcher should not be given the wage for his work from the sacrifice.  As to the saying of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him):  “The Messenger of Allah (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) had ordered me to stand at his camels: And to give in charity its meat and skin and saddles, and not to give the butcher anything of it.  And he said: “We give him from what we have”.

9-   Is the sheep sufficient for the household? The one sheep is sufficient for the household as a whole, even though they are many.  According to Abu Aiyyub (May Allah be pleased with him): “The man during the days of the Messenger of Allah used to sacrifice the sheep on his behalf and on behalf of his household”.  

10-    What one should avoid  until he fulfils his sacrifice: It is enormously detested for him who wanted to sacrifice to cut his hair or any of his nails  if the crescent of Thul-Hijja begins, until he sacrifices.  According to the Noble Prophet (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him):  “If you see the crescent of Thul-Hijja and any one of you wants to sacrifice, let him hold from cutting his hair and his nails until he sacrifices”.  

11-    The sacrifice of the Messenger (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) on behalf of all the Muslim nation: A Muslim who is incapable of offering the sacrifice, gets the reward of those who sacrifice.  That is because the Noble Prophet (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) ,when he slaughtered one of his two rams, said: “Our Lord, this is on my behalf and on behalf of those who did not offer a sacrifice of my nation”.

From: The Methodology of the Muslim
By : Abu Bakr Al-Jazairi