One sacrifice for a whole household

A question about whether one sacrifice suffices for a whole household even if the one sacrificing is the wife or one of the children, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that it is a communal sunna for one household: if one member performs it, the call lifts from the rest, while the reward belongs to the one sacrificing unless he includes others in it. ¹

The questioner asked whether slaughtering a sacrifice suffices for the people of one household, and whether this applies if the one sacrificing is the wife or one of the children. ¹

The Department answered that the sacrifice is an emphasised sunna for someone who can afford it, meaning someone who owns enough beyond his needs for the day and night of Eid and the days of tashriq to buy a sacrificial animal. ¹ It said it is a communal sunna for the people of one household whose maintenance falls on one person: if any one of them performs it, even someone not responsible for the maintenance such as the wife or a child, the call lifts from the rest, as the funeral prayer lifts from all when some perform it, though the reward does not reach anyone but the one sacrificing unless he intends to include them. ¹ It quoted Sulayman al-Jamal in his gloss on Fath al-Wahhab on what being a communal sunna means, including his report that al-Nawawi said in his commentary on Sahih Muslim that it is permitted to include others in its reward. ¹ It concluded that the sacrifice is an emphasised sunna for the well-off and a communal sunna for one household: if any member performs it, even one who is not the provider, the call lifts from the rest, and the one sacrificing may include whomever he wishes in its reward. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3975, dated 1 June 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.