Sacrificing Udhiyah on Behalf of The Deceased
Can Udhiyah be done on behalf of the people who are dead? Many people sacrifice animals on Eid on behalf of their deceased family members, such as their father or mother, uncles or aunts. Even some do it on behalf of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), what do you have to say about this?
Basically, the Udhiyah is for the living ones, for those who are alive, and not dead ones. And that is why the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) said, "For every household is one goat or one sheep". So to make an Udhiyah for those who passed away, this is not the Sunnah.
Secondly, if you want to do something for your parents, that would be Sadaqah. Whether you slaughter an animal or give money, that would be Sadaqah and the Sadaqah will Insha’Allah reach them. But don’t think this is Udhiyah, the Udhiyah is for those who are alive.
Some might use the Hadith as an evidence for them when the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) slaughter one sheep and he said, "This is for my family", and then another one and he said, "This is for my Ummah". So some they said, "Oh, this is for all his Ummah, those who are alive and those who are dead". However, this is not an explicit evidence, and the Sahabah didn’t understand this Hadith in this way. That is why we never came across any of the Sahabah that he made a sacrifice or Udhiyah for his father or mother, never. This was unknown amongst neither the Sahabah, nor the three generations.
Sheikh Salem Al-Amry