Mishkat al-Masabih #3310

Muhammad b. al-Muntashir told of a man who vowed to sacrifice himself if God rescued him from his enemy. He consulted Ibn ‘Abbas who told him to consult Masruq, and when he consulted him he replied, “Do not sacrifice yourself, for if you are a believer, you will kill a believing soul, and if you are an infidel you will hasten to hell; but buy a ram and sacrifice it for the poor, for Isaac was better than you and he was ransomed with a ram.”* He told Ibn ‘Abbas and he replied, “This is the decision I wanted to give you.” Razin transmitted it. *This agrees with the story in the Old Testament which says that Abraham was preparing to sacrifice Isaac, whereas the usual Muslim version is that it was Ishmael.