Is a Ritual-Slaughter Performed in Another Country Valid?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

1. I live in Mauritius and I have always done ritual-slaughter in India.

However, a local sheikh has recently stated that it is not valid as India is hours ahead of Mauritius.

Is it true?

2. Is it possible to distribute the meat to non muslims?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

1. I am not sure what school of thought the scholar who advised you follow but in the Hanafi scool it is valid to have an animal slaughtered in another country.

As mentioned elsewhere, the basic principle is that what is taken into consideration as it relates to the time of the ritual-slaughter is the place wherein it occurs and not the residence of the individual upon whom it is due.

Therefore, if the agent who has been appointed to carry out your ritual-slaughter does so within the stipulated time in the country where he/she is slaughtering, it will be valid. This is regardless of whether the time for such ritual-slaughter begins earlier in that country than in yours. [al-Haskafi, al-Durr al-Mukhtar (pp. 646)]

2. Yes, this is permitted and rewarding. There is no requirement to have such meat distributed to the Muslim poor.

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

قال في الدر المختار: والمعتبر مكان الأضحية لا مكان من عليه

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh 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.