We were standing with God’s Messenger at ‘Arafa, and I heard him say, “O people, every family must offer annually a sacrifice and an ‘atira. Do you know what the ‘atira is? It is what you call the Rajab sacrifice.”
Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Nasa'i and Ibn Majah transmitted it. Tirmidhi said this is a gharib tradition with a weak isnad, and Abu Dawud said the ‘atira has been abrogated.
Abu Huraira reported the Prophet as saying, “There is no fara’ and no ‘atira.” He said that the fara’ was the first animal born to them which they sacrificed to their idols, and the ‘atira was observed in Rajab.*
* These were practices of the idolatrous pre-Islamic Arabs. While the fara' sacrifice was abolished in Islam, it is said that the sacrifice of a sheep or goat in Rajab, known as the ‘atira, was continued in the early days of Islam and then abolished.
‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr reported God’s Messenger as saying, “I have been commanded to observe the day of sacrifice as a festival which God has appointed for this people.” A man asked, “Tell me, Messenger of God, if I can get only a female camel lent for milking, am I to sacrifice it?” He replied, “No, but take some of your hair and nails, clip your moustache and shave the hair over your pubes, and that will be a complete sacrifice for you in God’s sight.”
Zaid b. Arqam said the companions of God’s Messenger asked him the significance of these sacrifices and he replied, “It is a custom which has come down from your father Abraham." They asked what reward they would receive for them and he replied, “For every hair you will receive a blessing." They asked about wool, and he replied, “For every strand of wool you will receive a blessing."
