Source: Fatāwā Muḥammadiyyah, Vol. 1, p. 597
Some people claim that only the 10th of Dhul-Ḥijjah is the day of sacrifice (Qurbānī), and offering sacrifice on the remaining days (11th, 12th, 13th) is an innovation (bidʿah), since there is no explicit action of the Prophet ﷺ recorded for those days.
Is this claim correct?
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh.
It must be understood that although offering sacrifice on the first day (10th Dhul-Ḥijjah) is more virtuous, this superiority does not imply that sacrificing on the 11th, 12th, or 13th Dhul-Ḥijjah is an innovation.
The Qur’an, Sunnah, and statements of the early scholars (athār) clearly establish the permissibility of sacrifice during all these days.
In fact, for certain practical or beneficial reasons, performing the sacrifice during these days can even be more meritorious.
He wrote in his Fatāwā:
① Offering sacrifice on the first day is afḍal (most virtuous).
② Sacrifice on the remaining days is permissible (jāʾiz).
③ If one includes a righteous intention or beneficial purpose, then sacrifice on later days can also be equally or more virtuous.
Examples:
In such cases, the sacrifice on later days carries equal virtue to that of the first day.
عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ مُوسَى، عَنْ جُبَيْرِ بْنِ مُطْعِمٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، فَذَكَرَ مِثْلَهُ، وَقَالَ:
«كُلُّ أَيَّامِ التَّشْرِيقِ ذَبْحٌ»
(Musnad Aḥmad; also al-Dāraqutnī through different routes)
Translation:
Sulaimān bin Mūsā narrated from Jubayr bin Muṭʿim that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“All the days of Tashrīq are days of sacrifice.”
(Nayl al-Awṭār, Vol. 5, p. 165)
This ḥadīth clearly establishes that the days of Tashrīq (11th, 12th, and 13th Dhul-Ḥijjah) are all valid days for offering sacrifice.
① Imām Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله
He stated: “The connected chain (waṣl) of this ḥadīth is not firmly established.”
② Imām al-Shawkānī رحمه الله responded:
“This objection is answered by the fact that Ibn Ḥibbān narrated it with a connected chain and included it in his Ṣaḥīḥ.”
(Nayl al-Awṭār)
③ Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله further explained in Zād al-Maʿād:
When the prohibition of storing meat for more than three days (ḥadīth of idikhār) was abrogated, allowing storage until the 13th, this implicitly confirmed the permissibility of sacrifice up to the 13th as well.
He wrote:
“If one delayed the sacrifice until the third day, he would still have the same period for storage after the prohibition was lifted.”
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 2, p. 218)
He also stated:
«كُلُّ مِنًى مَنْحَرٌ، وَكُلُّ أَيَّامِ التَّشْرِيقِ ذَبْحٌ»
“All of Minā is a place of sacrifice, and all the days of Tashrīq are for sacrifice.”
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 1, p. 247 / new edition Vol. 2, p. 219)
Thus, this ḥadīth is narrated through multiple supporting chains that strengthen one another.
Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه said:
أَيَّامُ النَّحْرِ يَوْمُ الْأَضْحَى وَثَلَاثَةُ أَيَّامٍ بَعْدَهُ
“The days of sacrifice are the Day of al-Aḍḥā and three days after it.”
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 1, p. 246)
Among those who held that sacrifice is valid up to the 13th of Dhul-Ḥijjah are:
Imām Ibn al-Mundhir رحمه الله also adopted this view.
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 1, p. 246)
As mentioned by al-Nawawī in Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim:
فَقَالَ الشَّافِعِيّ: تَجُوز فِي يَوْمِ النَّحْرِ وَأَيَّامِ التَّشْرِيقِ الثَّلَاثَةِ بَعْدَهُ
“Sacrifice is permissible on the Day of Naḥr (10th) and the three days of Tashrīq thereafter.”
This view was also held by:
He wrote in Kitāb al-Ikhtiyārāt:
ذبح الأضحية آخر أيام التشريق
“The last permissible time for sacrifice is the final day of Tashrīq (13th Dhul-Ḥijjah).”
(al-Iʿtiṣām, Feb. 28, 1969 edition)
Allah Almighty said:
﴿وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّـهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ عَلَىٰ مَا رَزَقَهُم مِّن بَهِيمَةِ الْأَنْعَامِ﴾
“And they should mention the Name of Allah during the appointed days over the cattle He has provided them…”
(Sūrat al-Ḥajj, 22:28)
The “appointed days” (ayyāmun maʿlūmāt) are interpreted by many scholars as the days of Tashrīq (11th–13th Dhul-Ḥijjah), during which sacrifice is valid and remembrance of Allah is emphasized.
✿ Offering sacrifice on the 10th of Dhul-Ḥijjah is most virtuous.
✿ Sacrifice on the 11th, 12th, and 13th is valid and permissible.
✿ In certain cases, these later days may hold greater merit (e.g., to feed the poor over multiple days or to correct misconceptions about bidʿah).
✿ Declaring sacrifice on these days as bidʿah is based on ignorance and misunderstanding.
❖ Question:
Some people claim that only the 10th of Dhul-Ḥijjah is the day of sacrifice (Qurbānī), and offering sacrifice on the remaining days (11th, 12th, 13th) is an innovation (bidʿah), since there is no explicit action of the Prophet ﷺ recorded for those days.
Is this claim correct?
✿ Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh.
It must be understood that although offering sacrifice on the first day (10th Dhul-Ḥijjah) is more virtuous, this superiority does not imply that sacrificing on the 11th, 12th, or 13th Dhul-Ḥijjah is an innovation.
The Qur’an, Sunnah, and statements of the early scholars (athār) clearly establish the permissibility of sacrifice during all these days.
In fact, for certain practical or beneficial reasons, performing the sacrifice during these days can even be more meritorious.
❀ Fatwā of Ḥaḍrat Muftī ʿAẓam Mawlānā Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbdullāh Rūprī رحمه الله:
He wrote in his Fatāwā:
① Offering sacrifice on the first day is afḍal (most virtuous).
② Sacrifice on the remaining days is permissible (jāʾiz).
③ If one includes a righteous intention or beneficial purpose, then sacrifice on later days can also be equally or more virtuous.
Examples:
- If one intends to distribute the meat among the poor so that they may benefit for several days.
- If one offers the sacrifice on the 13th of Dhul-Ḥijjah to make it known that sacrifice is valid on that day as well.
In such cases, the sacrifice on later days carries equal virtue to that of the first day.
❀ Ḥadīth Evidence:
عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ مُوسَى، عَنْ جُبَيْرِ بْنِ مُطْعِمٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، فَذَكَرَ مِثْلَهُ، وَقَالَ:
«كُلُّ أَيَّامِ التَّشْرِيقِ ذَبْحٌ»
(Musnad Aḥmad; also al-Dāraqutnī through different routes)
Translation:
Sulaimān bin Mūsā narrated from Jubayr bin Muṭʿim that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“All the days of Tashrīq are days of sacrifice.”
(Nayl al-Awṭār, Vol. 5, p. 165)
This ḥadīth clearly establishes that the days of Tashrīq (11th, 12th, and 13th Dhul-Ḥijjah) are all valid days for offering sacrifice.
❀ Opinions of the Scholars and Ḥadīth Masters:
① Imām Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله
He stated: “The connected chain (waṣl) of this ḥadīth is not firmly established.”
② Imām al-Shawkānī رحمه الله responded:
“This objection is answered by the fact that Ibn Ḥibbān narrated it with a connected chain and included it in his Ṣaḥīḥ.”
(Nayl al-Awṭār)
③ Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله further explained in Zād al-Maʿād:
When the prohibition of storing meat for more than three days (ḥadīth of idikhār) was abrogated, allowing storage until the 13th, this implicitly confirmed the permissibility of sacrifice up to the 13th as well.
He wrote:
“If one delayed the sacrifice until the third day, he would still have the same period for storage after the prohibition was lifted.”
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 2, p. 218)
He also stated:
«كُلُّ مِنًى مَنْحَرٌ، وَكُلُّ أَيَّامِ التَّشْرِيقِ ذَبْحٌ»
“All of Minā is a place of sacrifice, and all the days of Tashrīq are for sacrifice.”
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 1, p. 247 / new edition Vol. 2, p. 219)
Thus, this ḥadīth is narrated through multiple supporting chains that strengthen one another.
❀ Statements of the Companions:
Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه said:
أَيَّامُ النَّحْرِ يَوْمُ الْأَضْحَى وَثَلَاثَةُ أَيَّامٍ بَعْدَهُ
“The days of sacrifice are the Day of al-Aḍḥā and three days after it.”
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 1, p. 246)
❀ View of the Early Scholars (Madhhab of the Salaf):
Among those who held that sacrifice is valid up to the 13th of Dhul-Ḥijjah are:
- Imām al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (Imām of Baṣrah)
- Imām ʿAṭāʾ bin Abī Rabāḥ (Imām of Makkah)
- Imām al-Awzāʿī (Imām of Shām)
- Imām al-Shāfiʿī (Imām of the Ahl al-Ḥadīth jurists)
Imām Ibn al-Mundhir رحمه الله also adopted this view.
(Zād al-Maʿād, Vol. 1, p. 246)
❀ Statement of Imām al-Shāfiʿī رحمه الله:
As mentioned by al-Nawawī in Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim:
فَقَالَ الشَّافِعِيّ: تَجُوز فِي يَوْمِ النَّحْرِ وَأَيَّامِ التَّشْرِيقِ الثَّلَاثَةِ بَعْدَهُ
“Sacrifice is permissible on the Day of Naḥr (10th) and the three days of Tashrīq thereafter.”
This view was also held by:
- ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه
- Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim رضي الله عنه
- Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما
- ʿAṭāʾ, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Sulaimān ibn Mūsā, Makḥūl, Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr رحمهم الله
❀ Imām Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله:
He wrote in Kitāb al-Ikhtiyārāt:
ذبح الأضحية آخر أيام التشريق
“The last permissible time for sacrifice is the final day of Tashrīq (13th Dhul-Ḥijjah).”
(al-Iʿtiṣām, Feb. 28, 1969 edition)
❀ Qur’ānic Evidence:
Allah Almighty said:
﴿وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّـهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ عَلَىٰ مَا رَزَقَهُم مِّن بَهِيمَةِ الْأَنْعَامِ﴾
“And they should mention the Name of Allah during the appointed days over the cattle He has provided them…”
(Sūrat al-Ḥajj, 22:28)
The “appointed days” (ayyāmun maʿlūmāt) are interpreted by many scholars as the days of Tashrīq (11th–13th Dhul-Ḥijjah), during which sacrifice is valid and remembrance of Allah is emphasized.
Summary:
✿ Offering sacrifice on the 10th of Dhul-Ḥijjah is most virtuous.
✿ Sacrifice on the 11th, 12th, and 13th is valid and permissible.
✿ In certain cases, these later days may hold greater merit (e.g., to feed the poor over multiple days or to correct misconceptions about bidʿah).
✿ Declaring sacrifice on these days as bidʿah is based on ignorance and misunderstanding.
