It happened that I vowed to slaughter an animal once my son is cured. Then he got cured. Can my family, relatives and I eat from the slaughtered animal?

Answer

Praise Be to Allah and Peace Be Upon His Messenger.

Primarily, a Muslim must fulfil their vows as Allah says: “Then let them complete their prescribed duties and perform their vows.” Al-Hajj: 29.

Aishah RRA reported the messenger of Allah who said: “He who vows to obey Allah, should obey Him. But he who vows to disobey Allah, should not disobey Him.” Related by al-Bukhari.

Thus, you should fulfil your vow applying the conditions to which you committed yourself when you vowed. For example, if you vowed to slaughter a sheep, you should slaughter a sheep. If you do not specify certain properties which must be available in the sheep, it will be sufficient to slaughter any sheep. It will be much better if you slaughter a sheep which meets the conditions of a sheep of a sacrifice or a birth sacrifice.

The vow must be fulfilled depending on what you intended and said. If you intended to slaughter an animal and distribute its meat to the poor and needy only, you and your family cannot eat from it. However, if you did not give any restriction once you vowed, and your vow was absolute, you and your family and relatives can eat from it. Actually, this is the opinion of some scholars who belong to the Maliki and Shafi’i schools (Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence). However, the majority of scholars who belong to the Hanafi, Shafi’i and Hanbali schools see that whoever vows to slaughter an animal, even if it is an absolute vow, should not eat from it because the vow in this case is like a charity which must be given to the poor and needy. It is mentioned in Al-Mughni reporting Ahmad, “he did not eat from a vow.”

Finally, it would be much better to distribute the meat of the slaughtered animal to the poor and needy without taking any part to you or your family and relatives; in this case, you do what is agreed upon.