This excerpt is taken from Professor Dr. Fazl Elahi's book Masail-e-Qurbani.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ commanded that the sacrificial animal be slaughtered in a good and proper manner. Imam Muslim narrated from Hazrat Shaddad bin Aws (RA) who said:
ينتان حفظتهما عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: ”إن الله تعالى كتب الإحسان على كل شيء فإذا قتلتم فأحسنوا القتلة وإذا ذبحتم فأحسنوا القتلة، وإذا ذبحتم فأحسنوا الذبح، وليحد أحدكم شفرته، فليرح ذبيحته
I remembered two things from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: "Indeed, Allah has made excellence obligatory in everything. So when you kill, kill well, and when you slaughter, slaughter well. Let one of you sharpen his knife and cause comfort to his slaughtered animal."
Reference: Sahih Muslim, Book of Hunting and Slaughtering, Chapter on the Command to Slaughter and Kill with Excellence, and Sharpening the Knife, Hadith No. 57. (1955), 1548/3
Imam Nawawi wrote: "The comfort of the slaughtered animal lies in sharpening the knife, using it swiftly, etc. It is also recommended that the knife not be sharpened in front of the animal, nor should one animal be slaughtered in front of another, nor should the animal be dragged to the place of slaughter."
Reference: Sharh al-Nawawi 107/13.
The Holy Prophet ﷺ himself took care to sharpen the knife before slaughtering. This hadith has already been mentioned that when a ram was brought for sacrifice, he instructed Hazrat Aisha (RA) to sharpen the knife with a stone. When she brought the sharpened knife, then the Prophet ﷺ slaughtered the ram.
See: This book
Reference: p. 36
