Islamic Fiqh > Hajj and umra > Hady: the pilgrimage sacrifices
The sacrifices proper to hajj (tamattu's hady, thanksgiving hady, obligatory hady): nature, place, distribution and their substitutes.
Contents
Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
The pilgrim owes an offering in several situations: tamattu', by agreement; ihram broken by an impediment, upon "If you are hindered, then an easy offering" (al-Baqara 196); the compensation for killed game; intercourse committed before the standing of Arafa, which engages a pilgrimage redone with an offering; and intercourse after the first release, according to the schools. The offering is an animal of the herds (camel, cow, goat, sheep) according to the case; one chooses it well-fleshed, sound, complete, precious, and distributes its meat to the poor present in the Sanctuary.
The majority (Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Ashhab among the Malikis) requires the blocked one (muhsar) to slaughter in order to release himself: "If you are hindered, then an easy offering"; he does not release himself by merely sending the price: the animal must be sacrificed. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), blocked at al-Hudaybiyya, did not have his head shaved before slaughtering his offering and said: "Slaughter and shave". The Malikis (in the madhhab) judge that the bare intention of release suffices, the offering being a sunna and not a condition, since the Prophet released himself from his blocking at al-Hudaybiyya without slaughtering a second one; al-Kasani answers that the Prophet's offering was that of his qiran or his 'umra, carried over to his blocking, and the account says: "he did not shave before slaughtering".
The tamattu' pilgrim who finds no offering fasts three days during the hajj and seven upon return, completing ten. It is better to fast the seven after returning to one's family; fasting them before completing the hajj's acts is not lawful by agreement. With the majority (Hanafis, Malikis, Hanbalis) and one opinion of al-Shafi'i, the seven may be fasted in Mecca after the hajj; the Shafi'i madhhab holds it only if the pilgrim intends to reside there, "upon your return" aiming at the return to one's family. And among the Hanafis, if the first three days were not fasted before the day of sacrifice, fasting no longer replaces them: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade fasting those days; unable to manage the offering, he releases himself and two offerings are due from him.
Intercourse before Arafa: invalidated pilgrimage, to be redone with an offering (and, failing it, the fast of three days during the hajj and seven upon return); intercourse after the standing and before the first release: a cow (badana) according to every view, the hajj remaining invalidated for the majority (Malikis in the madhhab, Shafi'is, Hanbalis) and complete for the Hanafis and a narration of Malik; intercourse after the first release: a sheep according to the Hanafis, one Shafi'i opinion and the Hanbali madhhab, a cow according to the Malikis, the other Shafi'i opinion and a Hanbali narration, upon the Prophet's order (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to slaughter a cow, reported from Ibn Abbas (al-Muwatta 858). Killed game engages an equivalent compensation by agreement. All these reparations go to the poor of the Sanctuary, and the pilgrim keeps count of his acts so as to owe nothing unknowingly.
Plan the tamattu' offering from the start, and in case of a real impediment on the road, apply the blocked one's rule: intention of release and a possible slaughtering. Doubt about the animal's value or kind is settled with a local scholar.