Defects to Be Avoided in Sacrificial Animals

Defects to Be Avoided in Sacrificial Animals

The Messenger of Allah  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) said: “A sacrificial animal must not be a lame animal whose lameness is obvious, a one-eyed animal which is clearly one-eyed, a sick animal whose sickness is obvious, or an emaciated animal that no one would choose.” [Ahmad]

The Messenger of Allah  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) forbade offering an animal that is missing a horn or an ear as a sacrificial animal. [Abu Daawood, At-Tirmithi, An-Nasaa’i and Ibn Maajah]

It follows that as a one-eyed animal is not a valid sacrificial animal, the blind animal is also not valid for sacrifice.

Among the defects that invalidate the sacrifice is that the fat tail fat has been cut off or the udder is defective (small and dry due to old age).

There are defects that do not affect the animal’s validity for sacrifice but it is better to avoid them, such as:

- Whiteness of the eye.

- Slight lameness where the animal cannot catch up with the herd.

- An internal disease that does not affect the amount of meat or render it bad.

- Missing less than half of the horn or ear, or a punctured or slit ear.

There are matters that do not affect the validity of the animal, such as the animal having been born without ears, a fat tail or horns, and the animal having been castrated, because it is fleshier and its meat is tastier.

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