Offering a sacrifice on behalf of another person

Question

Question: Can someone offer a sacrifice on behalf of an absent person without his permission? In “Alamgiri,” vol. 5, p. 458, in the chapter on sacrifice on behalf of another, it says: [ar]إذا ضح شاة من غير بأمر ذلك الغير أو بغير أمره لا تجوز[/ar] “If he sacrificed a sheep (?) on behalf of another, by that other’s instruction or without his instruction, it is not permissible.” What does this mean?

Answer

If the sacrificial animal is the property of the absent person, then sacrificing it on his behalf by his instruction is valid without any doubt, and without instruction it is also valid by istihsan. Thus it is stated in the same chapter of “Alamgiri”: [ar]ولو ذبح أضحية غيره عن المالك بغير أمره صريحًا يقع عن المالك ولا ضمان على الذابح استحسانًا، وبواسطة رجل ذبح أضحية غيره عن…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.