Shaving the Hair of a Sacrificial Animal

Answered by Shaykh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

Is it permissible to trim (shave) the hair of a sheep you intend to prepare for Qurbani at Eid Ul Azha?

In Pakistan the temperatures get too hot during summers, and therefore ticks and insects are a real problem during the rains, and summers, and with dense wool/fur they get a place to hide easily and more time is spent on removing them by hand.

Answer: assalamu alaykum

In the Hanafi school, the general rule is that the sacrificial animal is not benefitted from before it is sacrificed. Therefore, one is not permitted to milk the animal, cut its hair/wool, lease it to another, use it to carry a load, and so forth.

However, if there is a need to cut/shave the hair of the sacrificial animal, it would be permitted to do so. One should give the hair/wool away in charity though and not benefit from it oneself. (Ibn Abidin, Hashiya)

[Shaykh] Salman Younas

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Salman Younas  graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman where he spent five years studying Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford and continues his traditional studies with scholars in the United Kingdom.