Is it permissible to offer a pregnant animal as an udhiyah?

Praise
be to Allah.

Firstly: 

The udhiyah is one of the rituals of Islam
that is prescribed by the Book of Allah, may He be exalted, and the Sunnah
of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and by the
consensus of the Muslims. This has been discussed in fatwa no.
36432. 

For information on the conditions of the
udhiyah, please see fatwa no. 36755. 

Secondly: 

The scholars differed as to whether it is
permissible to offer a pregnant livestock animal as an udhiyah. The majority
are of the view that it is permissible to offer it as an udhiyah, and they
did not mention pregnancy among the faults or defects that render an animal
unacceptable as an udhiyah. 

The Shaafa‘is differed from that, and were
of the view that a pregnant animal should not be offered as an udhiyah. 

It says in al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah
al-Kuwaitiyyah (16/281): 

The majority of fuqaha’ did not mention
pregnancy as a defect with regard to the udhiyah, apart from the Shaafa‘is,
who stated clearly that a pregnant animal is not acceptable as an udhiyah,
because pregnancy affects the meat. End quote. 

It says in Haashiyat al-Bujayrami ‘ala
al-Khateeb (4/335), which is a Shaafa‘i book: 

The pregnant animal is not acceptable, and
this is the view of our madhhab, because pregnancy affects the meat. Rather
it is regarded as acceptable in the case of zakaah, because what is sought
in that case is the offspring, not the quality of the meat. End quote. 

The correct view is that a pregnant
livestock animal is acceptable as an udhiyah, if there is no other defect in
it. Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

It is acceptable to sacrifice a pregnant
sheep, if it is free of the defects mentioned in conjunction with
sacrificial animals.

End quote from Fataawa wa Rasaa’il ash-Shaykh
Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem (6/146) 

Thirdly: 

If the foetus is extracted alive, then it
should be slaughtered in the prescribed manner and may be eaten. 

Ibn Qudaamah said in al-Mughni
(9/321):

If it is extracted alive and in stable
condition, and it could be slaughtered, but it is not slaughtered until it
dies, then it is not regarded as having been slaughtered in the prescribed
manner. Ahmad said: If it is extracted alive, then it must be slaughtered in
the prescribed manner, because it is a separate soul. End quote. 

If it is extracted dead, then the majority
of scholars are of the view that it may also be eaten, because it is as if
it was slaughtered when its mother was slaughtered in the prescribed
manner. 

Abu Dawood (2828), at-Tirmidhi (1476 – and
he classed it as saheeh), Ibn Maajah (3199) and Ahmad (10950) narrated from
Abu Sa‘eed that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“The foetus is slaughtered when its mother is slaughtered (in the prescribed
manner).” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami‘
(3431). 

This – as we have mentioned – is the view
of the majority of scholars, with the exception of the Hanafis. 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in
Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (26/307): 

Sacrificing a pregnant animal as an
udhiyah is permissible. If the foetus is extracted dead, then its slaughter
was the slaughter of its mother, according to ash-Shaafa‘i, Ahmad and
others, regardless of whether it had any hair or not. If it was extracted
alive, then it should be slaughtered. 

The view of Maalik is that is if it had
hair, it is permissible, otherwise it is not. 

According Abu Haneefah, it is not
permissible unless it is slaughtered in the prescribed manner after it is
extracted. End quote. 

This issue has previously been discussed
in detail, and we noted that some of the scholars regarded it preferable not
to eat the foetus from a medical point of view. See fatwa no.
182410. 

And Allah knows best.