Sayyida Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: Whoever intends to offer a sacrifice should not trim his nails or cut his hair during Dhul-Hijjah.

Sayyiduna Uqbah bin Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) gave me some goats so that I could distribute them among his companions. I distributed them, and among them, a six-month-old kid remained. I mentioned this to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), so he said: Sacrifice it yourself.

Sayyiduna Zaid bin Khalid al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) distributed some goats among his companions for sacrifice, and he (peace be upon him) gave me a six-month-old kid from among them. I brought it to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), this is a six-month-old kid." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "You may sacrifice it."

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) sacrificed two rams with black eyes and horns. He pronounced the name of Allah and said Takbeer. I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) slaughter them with his blessed hand, and he had his foot placed on their side.

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) sacrificed two rams with black eyes and horns. He (peace be upon him) took the name of Allah and said Takbeer. I saw that he (peace be upon him) slaughtered them with his blessed hand, and he (peace be upon him) had placed his blessed foot on their side.

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) sacrificed a ram with horns, which had black coloring around its mouth and eyes.

Ziyad bin Jubair narrates: I saw Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) come to a man who had made his sacrificial camel sit down to slaughter it. Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) said: Make it stand and tie it, then slaughter it, for this is the Sunnah of Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Sayyiduna Uqbah bin Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: We offered as sacrifice a six-month-old sheep in the presence of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Sayyiduna Abu Burdah bin Niyar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: He slaughtered his animal before the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had performed the sacrifice on the day of Eid al-Adha. Sayyiduna Abu Burdah (may Allah be pleased with him) stated that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) ordered him to offer another sacrifice.

Sayyiduna Abu Burdah (may Allah be pleased with him) submitted: I can only find a six-month-old lamb. So the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: If you only find a six-month-old lamb, then slaughter that.

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) The Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) order to offer another sacrifice was as a recommendation and for the purpose of teaching, because the virtue of sacrifice is attained by the one who slaughters after performing the Eid prayer. Whoever sacrifices before the Eid prayer, there is virtue in it, but not the virtue of sacrifice, because when something is specified for a particular time and is declared recommended for that time, if a person does that act before the specified time, he does not attain the virtue promised for doing it at that specific time, although the general virtue of the act is not completely lost. An example of this is that it is recommended to perform the Duha prayer at the time of Duha; if someone performs a prayer at night as the Duha prayer, he will not get the reward of the Duha prayer, but he will get the reward for performing the prayer.

Sayyiduna Bara’ bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said on the day of Eid:“Today, the first thing we will do is perform the Eid prayer, then we will offer the sacrifice. Whoever does as such has acted according to the Sunnah, and whoever offered the sacrifice before the prayer, it is just meat that he has prepared for his family.”The narrator states: Sayyiduna Abu Burdah bin Niyar (may Allah be pleased with him) had already offered the sacrifice before the Eid prayer. He said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! I have a six-month-old lamb which is better than a one-year-old. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:“You may sacrifice it in its place, but after you, it will not be sufficient (the narrator is in doubt or perhaps these are the words) for anyone else.”