Sacrifice of an animal raised on unlawful fodder

Question

A certain man raises a cow on unlawful (haram) property: at night he secretly leaves it in people’s fields, and when it has eaten its fill it comes back, or he brings it back. He went on rearing it in this way for a whole year. Is it permissible to slaughter such a cow as a sacrifice or not? Some people had reserved shares in this cow for the sacrifice; when this kind of doubt arose in them they gave up their shares, and some other people offering sacrifice joined in these abandoned shares.

Answer

This act of the man — leaving his cow in another’s field without permission — is haram. However, this does not make the cow itself haram, and its sacrifice is valid. As for those who took shares and then gave them up: if they are wealthy and the sacrifice is wajib on them, then by taking a share in another cow and sacrificing they have discharged the wajib.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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