Bismillah’l-Raḥmān’l-Raḥīm
In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
Udhiyah is an Arabic term which means ‘sacrificing an animal’, and Qurbani is an Urdu and Persian word derived from the Arabic word Qurban which literally means an act performed to seek Allāh’s pleasure. It is technically used for the sacrifice of an animal slaughtered for the sake of Allāh.
Virtues of Udhiyah
Allāh Most High Says:
‘So turn in prayer towards your Lord and sacrifice (animals).’ (Qur’an 108:2)
There is nothing dearer to Allāh during the days of Udhiyah than the sacrificing of animals. The sacrificed animal shall come on the Day of Judgment with its horns, hair, and hooves (to be weighed). The sacrifice is accepted by Allāh before the blood reaches the ground. Therefore sacrifice with an open and happy heart. (Sunan Tirmidhi and Sunan Ibn Mājah)
Sayyiduna Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allāh be pleased with him) relates that the Companions asked, ‘O Messenger of Allāh! What is Udhiyah?’ He replied, ‘It is the Sunnah of your father Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him).’ They asked again, ‘What benefit do we get from it?’ He answered, ‘A reward for every hair (of the sacrificed animal).’ ‘And [what reward is there for animals with] wool, O Messenger of Allāh?’ they asked. ‘A reward’, he said, ‘for every fiber of the wool.’ (Sunan Ibn Mājah)
When a person slaughters an Udhiyah animal, he is forgiven at the fall of the first drop of blood, and verily, the animal shall be brought forward on the Day Of Judgment with its blood, meat etc., and shall be increased in weight seventy times more than its own weight, and thereafter it will be placed on the scale of deeds. (See: Kanz al-Ummal)
