All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
Selling of sacrificial animals that have specific characteristics is permissible according to Islamic jurisprudence. Imam Shihaab Ar-Ramli from the Shafie school of thought said: "If a person said to a trader, "I want an outfit with certain characteristics for this sum of money and the latter agreed, then the sale contract is concluded because this is a contract for manufacture." {Hasheyat Ar-Ramli Al Asna Al Matalib, V.2: P.18}. This is Salam sale (Islamic contract in which full payment is made in advance for specific goods (often agricultural products) to be delivered at a future date). For more details, kindly refer to the Shafie book {Tohfat At-Tollaab Wa Hasheyat Al-Sharqhawi, V.2: P.16}.
In principle, appointing the seller to slaughter the sacrificial animal on behalf of the buyer is permissible, because the appointed achieves the goal of the person who had appointed him. It is valid to delegate another person to do anything that one could do. Thus, since the person offering the sacrificial animal can slaughter it himself, then it is valid that he delegates someone else to do that on his behalf. However, it is conditioned to have the intention of offering an animal as sacrifice upon slaughtering that animal or upon paying its price to the person delegated to do that. In principle, the sacrificial animal should be specified because this is an act of worship, but it isn`t conditioned to do so upon slaughtering the animal; rather, it is valid to do so before that. For further details, kindly refer to {Asna Al-Matalib, V.1: P.538}.
Moreover, it is permissible for the person offering the sacrificial animal to authorize the person slaughtering it on his behalf to intend the animal as a sacrifice or he could do so himself upon authorizing that person. However, the sacrificial animal has to be specified even upon slaughtering. Also, sacrificial animals have to be specified as well so that each person collects his sacrifice. Therefore, charities and companies should adopt a certain mechanism to guarantee that sacrificial animals don`t get mixed and that every person gets his sacrifice.
The majority of the Muslim scholar are of the view that it is desirable for the person intending to offer a sacrifice during the month of Dhul-Hijjah not to cut his hair and not to pare his nails till he has offered his sacrifice. The evidence on this is that Umm Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "When anyone of you intends to sacrifice the animal and enter in the month of Dhul-Hijjah, he should not get his hair cut or nails pared till he has offered his sacrifice." [Muslim]. Thus, if the person who had appointed a charity to offer the sacrificial animal on his behalf didn`t know the time his it was slaughtered, so he cut his hair and pared his nails, then he is cleared from liability and his sacrifice is valid.
We (Iftaa` Department) thank such charities for their good deeds and remind them to adhere to the teachings of Sharia when delegated by Muslims to slaughter sacrificial animals on their behalf. And Allah the Almighty knows best.
