1 - Animal Sacrifices in the Life of the Prophet Muhammad

Summary

How do early Islamic Arabic sources describe the prophet Muhammad's practice of sacrifices throughout his life, and how might these be connected to his final sacrifice? Why did the prophet Muhammad perform a camel sacrifice at the conclusion of the one time he performed the Ḥajj? Using what appears to be an otherwise haphazard collection of sacrificial practices from the life of the prophet Muhammad, later Muslim jurisprudence constructs an ordered set of instructions prescribing animal sacrifice during the pilgrimage for various violations of the sanctuary and a pilgrim's sacralized state, incorporating elements from both the pagan “ʿumrah” coinciding with first-fruit sacrifices in the spring, and the pre-Islamic “ḥajj,” which took place at the annual Dhū al-Majāz fair during the first ten days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, involving tribal competitions, ritualized hunts, and the sacrifice of animals at mountaintop storm-gods.