What should one do when the sacrificial animal is expensive and the nisab amount is small?

Question

In a newspaper of those who do not follow taqlid we found the following written: in the Hanafi madhhab, the sacrifice is wajib on one who owns the nisab of zakat; the only difference is that zakat depends on owning the nisab for a whole year, while for the sacrifice this is not so. If a person owns sixty or seventy rupees, then, because he owns the nisab, the sacrifice is wajib on him; yet it is impossible to buy a sacrificial animal from anyone for that price.

Answer

The nisab of silver is fifty-two and a half tolas (a unit of weight, ≈ 11.66 g) of silver. If someone has this in excess of his basic needs during the days of sacrifice, the sacrifice is wajib on him. A male buffalo fit for sacrifice costs five, six or seven hundred rupees, and seven people join in it as partners and make the sacrifice.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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