Sacrificing a buffalo

Question

Question: What do the scholars say on this matter: is it permissible to sacrifice a buffalo or not? And if it is permissible, by which hadith is it established? Just as there is a clear command regarding the cow, the camel, the sheep and the goat, is there likewise a clear ruling regarding the buffalo in any hadith, what is that hadith like in terms of its chain of transmission (isnad), and in which book is it? Or did Imam Abu Hanifa ﵀ sacrifice a buffalo or command that it be sacrificed?

Answer

Is it the case that the words “camel”, “cow”, “sheep” and “goat” are present plainly and explicitly in some hadith commanding their sacrifice? If so, then quote that hadith. The statement of the lexicographers will not suffice — lest you write “ibil”, “baqar”, “ghanam” and “ma‘z” and say that in the language this word means such-and-such and that word means such-and-such.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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