Cleric admonishes Muslims to slaughter healthy animals

The Chief Imam of Area 10 Juma’ah Mosque, Abuja, Malam Yahya Al-Yolawi, has admonished Muslims to avoid slaughtering sick animals for Eid-el-Kabir sacrifice.

Al-Yolawi gave the advice on Friday in Abuja while delivering his 33rd Juma’ah sermon titled: "Rules of Udhiya (blood sacrifice) and Eidul-Adha’’.

He said that the animals should be free of any faults, because the Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said: "There are four that will not go for sacrifice.

"A one-eyed animal whose defect is obvious, a sick animal whose sickness is obvious, a lame animal whose limps is obvious and an emaciated animal that has no marrow in its bones.’’

He noted that the animals to be offered for sacrifice must reach the required age, which must be a minimum of six months for a sheep, one year for a goat and two years for a cow or camel.

He also noted that the sacrifice was an essential religious rite in memory of the sacrifice performed by Prophet Ibrahim, which involved the slaughtering of domestic animals such as sheep, goat, cow or camel.