Islamic Fiqh > Foods and drinks > Slaughter and sacrificing (dhabh)
The conditions of dhabh: the sharp tool, the naming of Allah, the direction of the animal, and the carcass found dead without slaughter.
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Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
Ritual slaughter (dhabh) is framed by conditions on the person, the name of Allah, the tool and the manner. The encyclopedia reviews them with the points of divergence.
The ruling gathers the jurists' agreement: the slaughterer must be discerning. Hanafis and Malikis require sound mind, and Hanbalis hold it a condition because of the required intention; Shafi'is, in the most apparent view, validate the slaughter of the insane or drunk man endowed with the least discernment. Puberty is not required: the consensus recorded by Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Qudama grants the lawfulness of an animal slaughtered by a woman, a child able to slaughter, or a slave, based on the hadith of Ka'b ibn Malik's servant girl who killed a sheep with a stone: « eat it » (reported by the 2 Shaykhs).
The scholars' unanimity covers the lawfulness of the animal slaughtered by a Muslim or a People of the Book member (al-Ma'ida 5); the Magian or idolater does not enter this authorization. On the Arab Christians of the prophetic era, Malik and
Abu Hanifa admitted them, al-Shafi'i excluded them, Ahmad carries 2 views. The hunting of a People of the Book member is admitted by most scholars; Malik alone excluded it.
Three schools divide the topic: Hanbalis make the invocation a condition: omitted deliberately, the animal does not become lawful, while forgetfulness is excused; Shafi'is make it a confirmed sunna, the animal remaining lawful, based on the hadith: « pronounce the name of Allah over it and eat » (al-Bukhari 1952). On a People of the Book member's omission, the majority eats the animal so long as no name other than Allah's was pronounced, a consensus recorded by Ibn Abd al-Barr and reported by an-Nawawi; Ibn Qudama requires the invocation from both alike.
What made the blood gush, with the name of Allah mentioned, eat of it, except the tooth and the nail: the tooth is a bone and the nail is the knife of the Abyssinians.
al-Bukhari 5224 ; Muslim 1968
Any sharp instrument that makes the blood gush renders the animal lawful: iron, stone, sharpened wood, reed, glass. Tooth and nail are excluded so long as they are not uprooted; on uprooted ones, Hanafis and Malikis permit them, Shafi'is and Hanbalis refuse them.
What has been slaughtered for other than Allah is forbidden and akin to carrion (an-Nahl 114-115), and the Prophet cursed whoever slaughters for other than Allah (Muslim 1978). The jurists include there the slaughter made to honor a guest or a dignitary; slaughter done out of sight for hospitality remains permitted, being the sunna of Abraham.
Allah has prescribed kindness in everything: when you kill, kill well; when you slaughter, slaughter well; let each of you sharpen his blade and ease his animal.
Muslim 1955
The jurists draw rules from it: not to sharpen the knife in the animal's sight, not to drag it roughly, to offer it water, not to break the neck before life is gone, not to skin before cooling.
These conditions explain the checklists used today: a qualified person, a sharp tool, the invocation, humane handling.
Al-Mughni by Ibn Qudama · Hanbali school
...so that it be eaten; and if he deliberately leaves the mentioning of Allah's name (tasmia) upon the slaughtered animal, it shall not be eaten; and if he leaves it forgetfully, it shall be eaten.
Bidayat al-Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd · comparative
The second chapter: ritual slaughter (dhakat). The rules of this chapter comprise two questions. The first: the types of slaughter specific to each species of livestock. The second: the description of the slaughter.
First question: they agreed that slaughter among livestock animals is neck-cutting (nahr) and sacrifice (dhabh), that sacrificing is the sunnah of sheep and birds, that neck-cutting is the sunnah of camels, and that for cattle both sacrifice and neck-cutting are permitted.
They disagreed: is neck-cutting permitted for sheep and birds, and sacrifice for camels? Malik held that neck-cutting is not permitted for sheep and birds, nor sacrifice for camels, and that because...