Every year Muslims around the world offer a sacrifice of an animal to commemorate Prophet Ibrahim’s (pbuh) willingness to sacrifice his son for the sake of Allah (SWT). The word Qurbani means sacrifice and leads to Eid-Al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, which takes place during the 12th month of the Islamic calendar year: Dhul Hijjah.

Qurbani is a Sunnah mu’akkadah (encouraged) for the one who can afford it, but there is no sin on the one who does not do it. If a person does not offer Qurbani although they can afford to do so, they are missing out on the rewards that results from offering the sacrifice, but they are not sinning, and do not have to make up what they missed in past. years

It is advisable to give it as early as possible. The Qurbani sacrifice is offered after Eid salah on the first day of Eid (10th Dhul Hijjah) up until the end of the 13th Dhul Hijjah.

There are six conditions for the sacrifice:

1. It should be one of the an’aam class of animals, which are camel, cattle, sheep and goat.
2. It should have reached the age of maturity as stipulated in sharee’ah: five years old for camels; two years old for cows; one year old for sheep.
3. The animal must be free of any faults or injuries which would render it unsuitable for sacrifice. For example, an obvious defect in the animal’s eye, sickness, lameness which prevents the animal from walking, or a state of emaciation which leaves no marrow in the bones.
4. The animal should belong to the person who is offering the sacrifice. If it does not, this person should be granted permission by the owner or from sharee’ah.
5. No one else should have any rights to the sacrificial animal; the sacrifice of an animal that is held in pledge is not valid.
6. It should be slaughtered at the time specified in sharee’ah, which is from after the Eid prayer on the Day of Sacrifice until sunset on 13th of Dhul Hijjah.

When the new moon of Dhul Hijjah appears, it becomes haram for the one who wants to offer a sacrifice to remove anything from his/her hair, nails, or skin. This ruling is general in meaning and applies to everyone who wants to offer a sacrifice: man or woman.

There is nothing wrong with giving meat from the sacrifice to a non-Muslim, especially if he is a relative, a neighbour, or is poor. Charity Right does not discriminate against those it supports. Your Qurbani is distributed to those who need it the most, regardless of their race, religion, age, or gender.

It is permissible to offer a sacrifice on behalf of one who has died. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “When the son of Adam dies, all his good deeds come to an end except three: ongoing charity, beneficial knowledge, or a righteous son who will pray for him.” Slaughtering a sacrifice on behalf of the deceased is a kind of ongoing charity, because it benefits the person offering the sacrifice, the deceased person, and others.

We have Charity Right teams on the ground in Bangladesh, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, which allows us to buy and distribute all Qurbani offerings ourselves.