Did the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) always choose a castrated animal for the udhiyah?
Question

                What are the rulings concerning uncastrated animals? Is it true that they are better than others for the udhiyah? How did the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) deal with this type of animals? You said in fatwa no. 95329 that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) sacrificed (as an udhiyah) two large, castrated rams. Was that his usual practice (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), or did he also sacrifice uncastrated animals?
Praise be to Allah.
	Firstly:

	In the answer to 
	question 95329, we stated that there is nothing 
	wrong with castrating animals if it is done for a valid reason. This is the 
	view of the majority of scholars.

	There is no 
	report in the Sunnah of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
	him) to indicate that he dealt with castrated animals in a particular way, 
	or that there are particular rulings concerning them. Rather the most that 
	can be said is that he sacrificed two castrated rams. This indicates that 
	doing so is permissible; it is permissible to castrate animals, on the one 
	hand, and it is permissible to offer castrated animals as an udhiyah on the 
	other hand.

	Ahmad (23348) 
	narrated that Abu Raafi‘ said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace 
	of Allah be upon him) sacrificed two large castrated rams that were white 
	speckled with black. Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Irwa’ 
	(4/360).

	Shaykh Ibn 
	‘Uthaymeen said:

	It is 
	permissible to offer a castrated animal as an udhiyah, because it is proven 
	from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he 
	sacrificed two castrated rams – i.e., two animals whose testicles had been 
	cut off. The point is that the meat of a castrated animal tastes better, so 
	castration does not harm it in the slightest.

	End quote from
	al-Liqa’ ash-Shahri (3/111)

	As for the 
	animal whose penis has been cut off, it is not permissible to offer it as an 
	udhiyah, as we shall see below.

	Secondly:

	The Prophet 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not always choose a castrated 
	animal for the udhiyah; rather he would sometimes choose an intact animal 
	that had not been castrated.

	Abu Dawood 
	(2796) and at-Tirmidhi (1496) narrated that Abu Sa‘eed said: The Messenger 
	of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to offer as an 
	udhiyah an intact (uncastrated) horned ram, that had black markings around 
	the eyes, the mouth and the feet. Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani.

	Imam Maalik 
	(1043) narrated from Naafi‘ that ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar offered an udhiyah once 
	in Madinah. Naafi‘ said: He instructed me to buy for him a horned, intact 
	(uncastrated) ram, then to slaughter it on the Day of al-Adha in the 
	prayer-place of the people.

	He said in 
	an-Nihaayah (3/417):

	The word 
	(translated here as) intact refers to an animal that that can impregnate a 
	female. He chose an intact male over a castrated male or a female because he 
	wanted one that was of high quality and large size. 

	See: Tahdheeb 
	al-Lughah by al-Azhari (5/48)

	Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr 
	(may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	The intact, 
	horned ram is the best of udhiyahs according to Maalik and most of the 
	scholars.

	End quote from
	al-Istidhkaar (5/220)

	Some of the 
	scholars gave preference to the castrated animal because its meat tastes 
	better. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
	

	It is 
	permissible to offer a castrated animal as an udhiyah; some scholars even 
	regard that as preferable to an intact animal, because its meat tastes 
	better. However the correct view is that the intact animal is preferable 
	from one angle, because it is physically complete, and this is given 
	precedence over the goodness of its meat.

	End quote from
	Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (9/42)

	Other scholars 
	regarded both as being equal, without giving precedence to one or the other.

	Ash-Shawkaani 
	(may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	The hadiths on 
	this topic were quoted as evidence for it being recommended to offer a 
	castrated animal as an udhiyah, but what appears to be the case is that 
	there is no preference, because it is also proven that the Prophet 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) offered intact animals as 
	udhiyahs, as in the hadith of Abu Sa‘eed. So they are both the same.

	End quote from
	Nayl al-Awtaar (5/142)

	Perhaps it is 
	most correct here to say that what is best of either type is that which is 
	fattest, has most meat, is most physically complete and best in appearance, 
	as it says in Ahkaam al-Udhiyah wa’dh-Dhakaah (2/229).

	If the intact 
	animal is bigger and has better-tasting meat, then it is preferable, and if 
	the castrated animal is bigger and has better-tasting meat, then it is 
	preferable. 

	[ends].