The Hidayah, quoted in Arun Shourie - The World of Fatwas Or The Sharia in Action (2012, Harper Collins)
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It is the duty of every free Muslim arrived at the age of maturity to offer a sacrifice, on the ‘Idu’l-Azha’, or ‘Festival of the Sacrifice’, provided he be then possessed of a Nisab (i.e., sufficient property), and be not a traveller. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah, Muhammad, Zufar, and Hasan, and likewise of Abu Yusuf, according to one tradition. According to ash-Shafi’i, sacrifice is not an indispensable duty, but only laudable. At-Tahawi reports that, in the opinion of Abu Hanifah, it is indispensable, whilst the disciples hold it to be in a strong degree laudable. The offering of a sacrifice is incumbent on a man on account of himself, and on account of his infant child. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah in one tradition. In another he has said that it is not incumbent on a man to offer a sacrifice for his child...

— Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It is the duty of every free Muslim arrived at the age of maturity to offer a sacrifice, on the ‘Idu’l-Azha’, or ‘Festival of the Sacrifice’, provided he be then possessed of a Nisab (i.e., sufficient property), and be not a traveller. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah, Muhammad, Zufar, and Hasan, and likewise of Abu Yusuf, according to one tradition. According to ash-Shafi’i, sacrifice is not an indispensable duty, but only laudable. At-Tahawi reports that, in the opinion of Abu Hanifah, it is indispensable, whilst the disciples hold it to be in a strong degree laudable. The offering of a sacrifice is incumbent on a man on account of himself, and on account of his infant child. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah in one tradition. In another he has said that it is not incumbent on a man to offer a sacrifice for his child..." in the context of "The Hidayah, quoted in Arun Shourie - The World of Fatwas Or The Sharia in Action (2012, Harper Collins)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani" (Quotes, Al-Hidayah (593 AH / 1197 CE): ''Al-Hidayah (593 AH / 1197 CE), Charles Hamilton's translation, 1791) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

About Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani

Burhān al-Dīn Abu’l-Ḥasan ‘Alī bin Abī Bakr bin ‘Abd al-Jalīl al-Farghānī al-Marghīnānī (Arabic: برهان الدين المرغيناني) was an Islamic scholar of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. He was born in Marghinan near Farghana in 530/1135 (in present day Uzbekistan) He died in 593/1197.