Is Qurbani (sacrifice) obligatory? Authentic evidences along with the stance of the majority of scholars

Qurbani is a confirmed Sunnah

Imam Malik said: Sacrifice (Qurbani) is Sunnah, not obligatory, and I do not like that a person, despite having wealth, abandons it.

Imam Ahmad was asked: Is sacrifice obligatory? He said: I do not call it obligatory but it is recommended.

Imam Bukhari said: باب سنة الأضحية Chapter on the Sunnah of sacrifice.
Then he narrates a suspended narration from Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): هي سنة و معروف Sacrifice is Sunnah and a good deed.

❀ Imam Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote:

والعمل على هذا عند أهل العلم أن الأضحية ليست بواجبة ولكنها سنة من سنن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم يستحب أن يعمل بها وهو قول سفيان الثوري و ابن المبارك

According to the scholars, the practice is that sacrifice is not obligatory but it is one of the Sunnahs of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and acting upon it is recommended. This is the opinion of Sufyan al-Thawri and Abdullah bin al-Mubarak.

And this is the opinion of most scholars, as has been mentioned with reference to Tahawi, and now some of its evidences are presented:
➊ It is narrated from Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

إذا دخلت العشر وأراد أحدكم أن يضحى فلا يمس من شعره و بشره شيئا.

When the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijjah begin and any one of you intends to offer a sacrifice, then do not cut your hair or nails.

Imam Darimi has tied باب ما يستدل من حديث النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم الأضحية ليس بواجب to this hadith.

Imam Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) said again in the explanation of the hadith about sacrifice:

فاحتمل أن يكون إنما أمره أن يعود لضحية أن الضحية واجبة واحتمل أمره أن يكون أمره أن يعود إن أراد أن يضحي لأن الضحية قبل الوقت ليست بضحية تجزيه فيكون من عداد من ضحى، فوجدنا الدلالة عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أن الضحية ليست بواجبة لا يحل تركها و هي سنة نحب لزومها و نكره تركها لا على ايجابها فإن قيل فأين السنة التي دلت على أن ليست بواجبة ؟ قيل ـ أخبرنا سفيان عن عبد الرحمن بن حميد عن سعيد ابن المسيب عن أم سلمة رضي الله عنها قالت قالت رسول الله صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم : إذا دخل العشر فأراد أحدكم أن يضحى فلا يمس من شعره ولا من بشره شيئًا. قال الشافعي رحمه الله وفي هذا الحديث دلالة على أن الضحية ليست بواجبة

Regarding your command to offer sacrifice again, I consider the possibility that sacrifice is obligatory, and also the possibility that your command to offer sacrifice again was conditional upon his willingness to sacrifice because slaughtering before the time is not a valid sacrifice. Therefore, he will be included among those who offer sacrifice. Then we found evidence from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that sacrifice is not obligatory, abandoning it is not permissible, and it is a Sunnah which we prefer to consider binding and consider abandoning it disliked, but not obligatory. This hadith contains evidence that sacrifice is not obligatory. Then if it is asked, where is the Sunnah (hadith) that proves it is not obligatory? (From our side) it is said: Sufyan bin Uyaynah narrated to us from Abdulrahman bin Humayd from Saeed bin al-Musayyib from Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: When the first ten days begin and any one of you intends to offer sacrifice, then do not cut your hair or nails. (Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) said:) This hadith contains evidence that sacrifice is not obligatory. End.

Presenting this hadith of Umm Salamah, Imam Ibn al-Mundhir wrote:

فالضحية لا تجب فرضا، استدلالا بهذا الحديث إذ لو كان فرضا لم يجعل ذلك إلى إرادة المضحى

Therefore, deducing from this hadith, sacrifice is not obligatory, because if it were obligatory, it would not be dependent on the intention of the one offering the sacrifice.

❀ Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi al-Maliki said:

فعلق الاضحية بالارادة والواجب لا يتوقف عليها، بل هو فرض أراد المكلف أو لم يرد

So you have made sacrifice dependent on intention, but there is no hesitation regarding the obligatory; it is obligatory whether the person desires it or not.

Also Hafiz Ibn Hazm wrote about this hadith:

برهان بأن الأضحية مردودة إلى ارادة المسلم و ما كان هكذا فليس فرضا

It is evidence that sacrifice is made dependent on the intention of the Muslim, and in such a case it is not obligatory.

Ibn al-Turkumani of the eighth century

objected to Imam Shafi’i and presented two narrations:

First:

من أراد الجمعة فليغتسل

This narration is under consideration from these words but it is in Sahih Muslim:

إذا أراد أحدكم أن يأتى الجمعة فليغتسل

When any one of you intends to go for Friday prayer, he should take a bath.

Here the intention is not dependent on whether one prays Friday or not, but on setting out to attend Friday prayer and taking a bath, as Al-Mawardi said:

قلنا: إنما علق بالارادة الغسل دون الجمعة والغسل ليس بواجب فكذلك الاضحية

We said: Here the intention is not for Friday prayer but is conditional upon taking a bath, and taking a bath is not obligatory, so likewise sacrifice is also not obligatory.

Second:

من أراد الحج فليتعجل

Here, the intention is not about performing Hajj or not, but it is conditional upon hastening or delaying it.
❀ Sufi Abdul Raouf Al-Manawi

wrote:

وهذا أمر ندبي لأن تاخير الحج عن وقت وجوبه سائغ كما علم من دليل آخر

And this ruling is recommended because delaying Hajj from its obligatory time is permissible as proven by another evidence.

Both these objections have been refuted and the argument from the Hadith of Muslim remains. And all praise is due to Allah.
It is narrated from Abu Suraijah (Hudhayfah bin Asid, may Allah be pleased with him) that أن أبا بكر و عمر رضی اللہ عنہما كانا لا يضحيان Indeed, Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) did not offer sacrifice.

In one narration, it is mentioned that Abu Suraijah said: I saw Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and they were not sacrificing (ما يضحيان).

Note:

Due to a scribe’s error in Ma’ani Al-Athar, Abu Suraijah is mistakenly written as Abu Shurayhah, and the correct reference, Abu Riyhah, is also available in Maktabah Shamila.

Benefit:

By presenting these two narrations as evidence, Tahawi (Hanafi) has proven the issue that it is permissible for the general public to offer sacrifice after the Eid prayer and even before the Caliph performs the sacrifice.
In Ma‘rifat al-Sunan wa al-Athar by Al-Bayhaqi, it is narrated that Abu Sarihah (RA) said:
Abu Bakr and Umar (RA) were both my neighbors, and they both did not offer sacrifice.

In Al-Bayhaqi’s Sunan al-Kubra

there is also a narration with this meaning whose chain includes Sufyan ibn Sa‘id al-Thawri and the narration is from ‘An. This narration is completely authentic according to the principles of Hanafi, Deobandi, and Barelvi schools, and according to the principles of Ahl al-Hadith its chain is weak but acceptable (Sahih Lighayrihi).
In the second chain of this narration, Isma‘il ibn Abi Khalid is a mudallis and the narration is from ‘An. Imam Dar Qutni declared this narration as Mahfuz (authentic) and said that Isma‘il ibn Abi Khalid heard it from Shu‘bi.

The claim by some people that neither of them had the Nisab of Zakat or wealth is completely baseless, which is also refuted by the fact that they did not offer sacrifice for the reason that people should not consider it a compulsory Sunnah, as mentioned in some chains of this narration. Now a few narrations are presented which are authentic or Hasan according to the principles of Shafi‘i, Deobandi, and Barelvi:
➊ It is narrated from Abu Mas‘ud al-Ansari (RA) that I intended to abandon sacrifice while I had more wealth than you, out of fear that people might consider it a compulsory obligation.

In the chain of this narration, Sufyan al-Thawri is a mudallis and the narration is from (Mansur and Wasil), the rest of the chain is authentic, therefore this narration is authentic according to the principles of Hanafi, Barelvi, and Deobandi.
➋ It is narrated from Sayyiduna Bilal (RA) that ما أبالي لو ضحيت بديك I do not care even if I sacrifice a chicken.

In the chain of this narration, Sufyan al-Thawri is a mudallis and the narration is from ‘An, the rest of the chain is authentic, therefore this narration is authentic according to the principles of Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Deobandi, and Barelvi schools.

Warning:

This narration is also present in Musannif Abdul Razzaq

, and in Al-Muhalli by Ibn Hazm

, the narration is mentioned with reference to Saeed bin Mansoor following Sufyan Thawri (Abu Al-Ahwas, trustworthy). And Allah knows best.

➌ It is narrated from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) that he said to Abu Al-Khaseeb: Perhaps you consider it (the sacrifice) obligatory (necessary, wajib)? Abu Al-Khaseeb said: No! But it is a reward, goodness, and Sunnah. Then Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) said: Yes!

In the chain of this narration, Abu Al-Khaseeb (Ziyad bin Abdul Rahman Al-Qaisi) is a man from Banu Qais bin Tha’labah, whom Ibn Hibban declared trustworthy and Imam Bukhari took narration from him in his annotations.

Hafiz Ibn Hajar said about this narration: “With a good chain up to Ibn Umar,” meaning the chain is good up to Ibn Umar.

This proves that Ziyad bin Abdul Rahman is a truthful narrator, so this chain is good. Abdul Aziz Bukhari (Hanafi) wrote: “And for us, the narration of the unknown from the three generations is acceptable.”

Finally, it is stated that the obligation of sacrifice is not explicitly proven by any verse or hadith, nor has any companion or follower declared it obligatory. Rather, from the practice of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), its non-obligation is established. Therefore, sacrifice is a confirmed Sunnah and should not be abandoned.

The status of sacrifice as Sunnah or mustahabb (recommended) is explicitly established by Imam Malik, Imam Shafi’i, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, Imam Bukhari, and the majority of scholars, while its obligation is not proven from any companion, follower, or Imam Abu Hanifa. And our duty is only to convey.