Sharing Qurbani meat equally amongst family members

Question:-

A number of family members living in one house will be jointly slaughtering a cow for Qurbani. We do not mind how the shares will be split. What is the ruling?

Answer:-

If seven partners jointly purchased a cow for Qurbani, then it is necessary to share the Qurbani meat equally amongst all shareholders. If some partners receive more meat than the others, then the extra meat received by some will be considered as Riba.

There are two ways of overcoming the issue; the first is by joining other parts of the animal together with the meat when distributing the meat. For example, by joining the head with the meat of partner A, or the trotters with the meat of partner B, or the skin with the meat of partner C, and so on and so forth, then equality will not be required when distributing the meat.

The second option is by gifting the entire animal (after the Qurbani is complete) to one person such as the head of the family. This will have to be carried out with the consent of all the partners. He will consequently become the owner of all the meat. As the owner, he may voluntarily gift the meat to all the shareholders according to his discretion hence, the requirement of equality will fall away. He may also keep all the meat for himself, since he is now the owner of the meat.

ALLAH TA’ALA KNOWS BEST!

ANSWERED BY:

Mufti Mohammed Desai

Date: 18 Dhul Qa’dah 1443 / 19 June 2022