She vowed to sacrifice two sheep; can she give them to provide iftaar to people who are fasting?

Question: 155884

I vowed to sacrifice two sheep if Allah relieved me of calamity, and – praise be to Allah – He relieved me of it. Now it is the blessed month of Ramadan, and here in America, in the state of California, we have a program for offering iftaar in the mosque to people who are fasting. Every day one of the Muslims or one of the families cooks food for the mosque – of course as a donation from them. My question is: is it permissible for me to cook these two sheep to provide iftaar in the mosque to people who are fasting, because I heard that this is not permissible and, rather, the (meat from a sacrifice offered in fulfilment of a) vow is only for the poor, and it is even not permissible for me and my family to eat from it. Is that correct? Please advise me, may Allah reward you. Please explain to me what is the ruling on vows, especially with regard to sacrifice? May Allah reward you with good on our behalf and on behalf of the Muslim ummah. Please give me an answer before the end of the blessed month of Ramadan, so that I may fulfil it.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Firstly:

The vow mentioned here is called
a conditional vow. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
forbade making such vows and said that it only gets something out of the
miser. The reason why he is called a miser is that the one who makes this
vow is not doing this charitable act – namely offering a sacrifice, in your
case – until after Allah has fulfilled his request.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah
(may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The basic principle is that
making vows is makrooh (disliked), because it is proven that the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) disallowed making vows and said:
“It does not bring any good; it only gets something out of the miser.”

End quote. Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa
(35/354).

This is different from a vow to
do an act of obedience or worship, which is something praiseworthy, in which
the one who makes the vow pledges to do an act of worship or obedience
without stating any condition of obtaining some worldly benefit.

Both kinds of vows must be
fulfilled.

For details on different types
of vows and the rulings thereon, please see the answer to question no.
2587.

See the answer to question no.
119562 for a highlight on the prohibition of making
vows for one who believes that Allah, may He be exalted, will fulfil the
request of the one who makes the vow just because he made a vow!

Secondly:

It is not permissible for the
one who made the vow to eat any of the meat from the animal which is
sacrificed in fulfilment of his vow, unless he intended that he would eat
from it or stipulated that he would do so. Therefore if you did not
stipulate such a condition, it is not permissible for you – or your family –
to eat from the meat of the two sheep you slaughter.

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah
ad-Daa’imah (23/392):

If a person makes a vow which
involves feeding people, then the basic principle is that the one who makes
the vow should not eat from the food he provides in fulfilment thereof,
unless he stipulated or intended that he would eat from that food, in which
case it is permissible for him to eat it in accordance with what he
stipulated or intended. End quote.

See also the answer to question
no. 82667

Thirdly:

If the one who made the view
stipulated who would be the recipients of his vow, then he must adhere to
what he stipulated, such as if he vowed to give it to friends, relatives,
neighbours, and so on. But if he made his vow in general terms and did not
stipulate anyone in particular, then he may give what he vowed to the poor
and needy, because they are the people to whom charity is to be given, and
are the people to whom food in fulfilment of a general vow is to be given,
because they are the recipients of charity in general terms, as they are
poor and needy. Undoubtedly the poor are more deserving of it than others.

For more details, please see the
answers to questions no. 69907 and
134771

Based on that, if the fasting
people who come to the mosque for iftaar are among the poor and needy, then
there is nothing wrong with you giving the two sheep to someone who will
cook them to feed those people. But if that is not the case, then you should
not do that; rather you should distribute the meat raw to the poor and
needy. This may be better for many of them, so that the entire family may
eat from it.

You should also strive to ensure
that the two sheep are meet the quality and description required for udhiyah
sacrifice, so that you will have fulfilled your vow properly.

The scholars of the Standing
Committee said, in response to a similar question, something which sums up
what we have said to you:

You have to fulfil your vow that
you mentioned, by sacrificing the two sheep that you vowed to sacrifice, and
distribute the meat to the poor and needy. It is essential that the two
sheep meet the quality and description required for udhiyah sacrifice, which
is a sheep one year or older, or a goat older than one year. May Allah help
you to fulfil your vow and make things easy for you. And we advise you not
to make vows in the future, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) disallowed making vows and said: “It does not bring any
good; it only gets something out of the miser.” (Agreed upon).

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz,
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan, Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez Aal ash-Shaykh, Shaykh Bakr
Abu Zayd

Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah
(23/332)

And Allah knows best.

Source:

Islam Q&A

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