Slaughtering
Muhammad Bin Abdul-Wahhab
ON SLAUGHTERING FOR OTHER THAN ALLAAH'S SAKE
- Categories: Fiqh of Worship -
On slaughtering for other than Allaah’s sake
Allaah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, "Say, 'My salat, my prayer, indeed my whole life and death are to Allaah, Lord of the universe, to whom there is no associate.'" [Al-An'aam: 162-163]
{قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّـهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ﴿١٦٢﴾ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ}
Transliteration: Qul inna salatee wanusukee wamahyaya wamamatee lillahi rabbi alAAalameena (162) La shareeka lahu
and "Address therefore your prayers to your Lord, and slaughter (in His name)" [Al-Kawthar: 2]
{فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ}
Transliteration: Fasalli lirabbika wainhar
In his Saheeh, Muslim relates from Alee radiallaahu 'anhu the following: «Allaah's Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) did not tell me anything in secret that he hid from people, except that he told me four things. He said: Com- mader of Faithful, what are these? He said: Allaah cursed him who cursed his father; Allaah cursed him who sacrificed for anyone besides Allaah; and Allaah cursed him who accommodates an innovator (in religion) ; and Allaah cursed him who changed the minarets (the boundary lines) of the land.» [Reported by Muslim]
In his Saheeh, Muslim relates from Alee radiallaahu 'anhu the following: «Allaah's Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) did not tell me anything in secret that he hid from people, except that he told me four things. He said: Com- mader of Faithful, what are these? He said: Allaah cursed him who cursed his father; Allaah cursed him who sacrificed for anyone besides Allaah; and Allaah cursed him who accommodates an innovator (in religion) ; and Allaah cursed him who changed the minarets (the boundary lines) of the land.» [Reported by Muslim]
«ما كان النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يسر إلي شيئا يكتمه الناس. غير أنه قد حدثني بكلمات أربع. قال فقال: ما هن؟ يا أمير المؤمنين! قال (لعن الله من لعن والده. ولعن الله من ذبح لغير الله. ولعن الله من آوى محدثا. ولعن الله من غير منار الأرض) »
Issues addressed in this chapter:
1.Explanation of the verse 'Say, My salat my prayer, indeed my whole life and death...' [Al-An'aam: 162-163]
2. Explanation of the verse “Address therefore your prayers to your Lord, and slaughter in His name” [Al-Kawthar: 2]
3. Cursing whomsoever slaughters in any other name than Allah's.
4. Cursing whomever curses his parents, including the person who invites such curse by cursing somebody else's parents and thus eliciting a reciprocal cursing of his own.
5. Cursing whoever shelters the muhdith i.e. the perpetrator of a crime incurring divine sanction, with a view to enable him to escape punishment.
6. Cursing whomsoever alters unjustly the frontiers of personal land properties, and thus continues them to achieve illegitimate advantage.
7. Difference between cursing a definite person for a definite crime and cursing the perpetrators of crimes in general.
8. The significant story of the flies.
9.That the person who sacrificed flies to the idol to avoid the threat of the idolaters went to hell though he did not approve of his own deed.
10. Assessing the degree of shirk within the hearts of Muslims. Their patient suffering of martyrdom and resistance to the demand of the idolaters through the latter only required only the external act.
11. That he who entered hell was a Muslim. Otherwise the Prophet would not have said that the man entered hell merely for sacrificing flies.
12. This story constitutes evidence for another Hadith viz «Paradise is closer to man than his own soles. And so is hell.» [Reported by Bukhari]
«الجنة أقرب إلى أحدكم من شراك نعله، والنار مثل ذلك»
13. That the work of the heart is the greater requirement, even among idolaters.
No slaughter in the name of Allaah where slaughter in another name is practised
Allaah subhanahu wa ta'ala said: “Do not even stand therein.” [At-Tawba: 108]
{لَا تَقُمْ فِيهِ أَبَدًا}
Transliteration: La taqum feehi abadan
Abu Dawood related that Thabit ibn al Dahhak radiallaahu 'anhu said: «A man made a vow to sacrifice a camel at a place called Buwanah, and sought the Prophet's permission to do so. The Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam asked, Does this place have an idol such as those of Jahilliyyah? The man answered, no. The Prophet asked again, Did the unbelievers hold any of their feasts at that place? Again the man answered, no. The Prophet then said, Go ahead and fulfill your vow. The vows which ought not to be fulfilled are those which involve disobedience to Allah, or fulfillment of what is beyond man's capacity.» [Reported by Abu-Dawood]
«نذر رجل على عهد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أن ينحر إبلا ببوانة فأتى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال إني نذرت أن أنحر إبلا ببوانة فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم هل كان فيها وثن من أوثان الجاهلية يعبد قالوا لا قال هل كان فيها عيد من أعيادهم قالوا لا قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أوف بنذرك فإنه لا وفاء لنذر في معصية الله ولا فيما لا يملك ابن آدم »
Issues addressed in this chapter:
1. Explanation of the verse “Do not stand therein.” [At-Tawba: 108]
2. That disobedience to Allah, as well as obedience are without real effects in the world.
3. Reference of the questionable problem to the clear one, for solution by extrapolation.
4. Permissibility of asking the mufti for details wherever there is need.
5. Vows specifying the place of fulfillment are legitimate as long as no legal hindrances intervene.
6. Illegitimacy of fulfilling a vow at a place where an idol stands, or had once stood.
7. Illegitimacy of fulfilling a vow where unbelievers held a celebration, though the practice is presently extinct.
8. Illegitimacy of fulfilling a vow made on such a spot because the vow is ipso facto illegitimate.
9. Caution against imitating the unbelievers in their celebrations, even if unwittingly.
10. No vow is legitimate if its content is illegitimate.
11. No vow is legitimate for a man if it demands fulfilment of what he cannot do.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab
Source: From Kitaab at-Tawheed (Chapters 10 & 11) with few modifications.
http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/aqeedah/0050.htm