Can he offer two or more animals as a sacrifice?
Question

                Is it prescribed to offer more than two animals as a sacrifice? We have seen people sacrificing three or four.
Praise be to Allah.
		Firstly: 

	Offering the sacrifice (udhiyah) is prescribed and 
	recommended, and it is a confirmed Sunnah or obligatory, according to 
	differences of opinion among the fuqaha’. Please see the answer to question 
	no. 36432. 

	Secondly: 

	One sheep is sufficient on behalf of a man and the members of 
	his household, even if they are many, because of the report narrated by at-Tirmidhi 
	(1505) and Ibn Maajah (3147) from ‘Ata’ ibn Yasaar, who said: I asked Abu 
	Ayyoob al-Ansaari: How were sacrifices offered at the time of the Messenger 
	of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)? He said: At the time of 
	the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), a man would 
	sacrifice a sheep on behalf of himself and the members of his household, and 
	they would eat some of it and give some to others. Then people started to 
	compete and it became as you see (nowadays).. 

	An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: One sheep is 
	acceptable on behalf of one person and is not enough on behalf of more than 
	one, but if a person sacrifices it on behalf of the members of a household, 
	he has performed the ritual on behalf of all of them, and the sacrifice in 
	their case is Sunnah kifaayah (i.e., if one has done it, it suffices for 
	all).

	End quote from al-Majmoo‘ (8/370). 

	If he slaughters more than one, there is nothing wrong with 
	that, so long as it is not for the purpose of showing off. 

	Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:

	Has Islam stipulated the number of sacrifices to be offered 
	by a Muslim on the Day of Eid al-Adha, and what is the number if there is a 
	specific number? 

	He replied:

	There is no set limit for that. The Prophet (blessings and 
	peace of Allah be upon him) used to sacrifice two sheep – one on behalf of 
	himself and the members of his household, and the other on behalf of those 
	who affirm Allah’s Oneness among the ummah of Muhammad (blessings and peace 
	of Allah be upon him). So if a person sacrifices one or two, or more than 
	that, there is nothing wrong with it. Abu Ayyoob al-Anaasi (may Allah be 
	pleased with him) said: At the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of 
	Allah be upon him) we would sacrifice one sheep, as we would eat from it and 
	feed others. Then people began to show off by offering more after that. The 
	point is that one sheep is sufficient if a person sacrifices one sheep in 
	his house on behalf of himself and the members of his household, and he will 
	have fulfilled the Sunnah by doing that. But if he sacrifices more than that 
	– two or three or four – or he sacrifices a camel or a cow, there is nothing 
	wrong with that.

	End quote from the Shaykh’s website:


	http://www.binbaz.org.sa/mat/11662

	But it is better and is preferable to limit it to one sheep 
	on behalf of oneself and the members of one’s household, because this was 
	the practice of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). 

	It was narrated that Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah said: I was present 
	with the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on 
	the day of Eid al-Adha in the prayer place. When he had finished his khutbah, 
	he came down from his minbar. A ram was brought to him and the Messenger of 
	Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) slaughtered it with his own 
	hand, saying “Bismillah wa Allahu akbar (in the name of Allah and Allah is 
	Most Great), this is on behalf of myself and on behalf of anyone among my 
	ummah who has not offered a sacrifice.”

	Narrated by Abu Dawood (2810); classed as saheeh by Shaykh 
	al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

	Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
	

	Undoubtedly adhering to the Sunnah is better than not doing 
	so. if we say that the Sunnah is for the members of a household to limit 
	themselves to offering one sheep as a sacrifice, to be done by the head of 
	the household, that does not mean that if they sacrificed more than one they 
	are sinning. They are not sinning, but adhering to the Sunnah is better than 
	doing a lot of something. Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says 
	(interpretation of the meaning): “that 
	He may test you which of you is best in deed” 
	[al-Mulk 67:2]. Hence  
	when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) sent two men on 
	a mission, and they did not find any water, so they did tayammum and prayed, 
	then they found water, one of them did wudoo’ and repeated his prayer, and 
	the other did not. He mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah (blessings 
	and peace of Allah be upon him) and he said to the one who did not repeat 
	his wudoo’ and prayer: “You followed the Sunnah”; and he said to the other 
	one: “You will have a twofold reward.” Which of them was better? It was the 
	one who followed the Sunnah, even though the other would have a twofold 
	reward, because he will only have a twofold reward because he did the deed 
	twice, intending in both cases to draw closer to Allah, may He be glorified 
	and exalted. So he will have the reward for doing two deeds, but he is not 
	like the one who followed the Sunnah.

	End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb. 

	
	And Allah knows best.