Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, connects worship with the use of food. An animal offered for the festival, an udhiyah or qurbani, can feed the household that arranged it as well as people beyond that household. The Qur’an places both eating and feeding others in the description of sacrifice. Early reports then show why, in a year of hardship, the way people kept and shared the meat mattered. Qur’an 22:36 · Sahih al-Bukhari 5569
What the Qur’an says about the food
Qur’an 22:36 names sacrificial animals among the signs of God, calls for God’s name to be mentioned and links eating from the animals with feeding people in need. The verse ends by invoking gratitude. The next verse gives the act its religious orientation by placing the emphasis on the worshippers’ piety. Read together, the verses give the meat a practical destination among people and describe why the act matters as worship. The overview of Eid al-Adha explains the separate account of Ibrahim’s trial and the festival’s place during Hajj. Qur’an 22:36 · Qur’an 22:37
Why one year was different
A report attributed to Salama ibn al-Akwa in Sahih al-Bukhari recounts a year when Muhammad told people who had offered a sacrifice to keep none of the meat after three days. The following year, people asked whether to observe the same limit. He told them they could eat some, feed others and store some. The report explains that people had been in difficulty the previous year and that the earlier instruction was meant to help them. The question at the start of the second year is important to the story. It prompted an explanation of the circumstances behind the original instruction. Sahih al-Bukhari 5569, report of Salama
In another report, Aisha answers a question about the three-day limit by recalling a year when people were hungry. She explains the instruction as a way to have people with means feed those in need. She also remembers keeping a portion of a sheep to eat considerably later. Her account gives a household example of the difference between the response to shortage and the practice of saving food under other circumstances. Sahih al-Bukhari 5423, report of Aisha
Where the division into thirds comes in
One way of planning the distribution is to reserve one share to eat, one to give as gifts and one to give as charity. An answer published by Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta recommends three equal portions and allows a person to eat or give in charity more than one third. It also explains that meat is the main part being distributed. The recommendation gives the people preparing an offering a way to plan for different recipients. Its status as a recommendation is part of the ruling and matters when comparing it with practice in other communities. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, “Partition of sacrifice”
When distribution needs an organization
Sharing from an offering may happen among people who know each other. At Hajj the Saudi project known as Adahi illustrates a different scale. In a 2020 account, the president of the Islamic Development Bank described work the bank managed for Saudi Arabia, including distribution of meat from the previous year’s pilgrimage and plans for facilities to handle cutting, packaging and preservation. This is a documented example from pilgrimage. It shows the practical work involved when food has to reach recipients across a distance. Islamic Development Bank, 2020 account of the Adahi project
Conclusion
At Eid al-Adha the sharing of meat puts the festival’s concern for other people into practice. The Qur’an links it with gratitude and piety. The accounts of Salama and Aisha show how a period of hunger affected what people did with the food. Recommendations about portions and arrangements for wider distribution answer a practical question that arises wherever the rite is observed, namely how the food will reach the people it is meant to feed.
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