The reason why a cow suffices as a sacrifice for five individuals is that those whom the Samiri commanded to worship the calf were five people. They were the ones who slaughtered the cow that Allah
سبحانه وتعالى, Blessed and Exalted, commanded to be slaughtered. They were Azinunah, his brother Midhunah, his nephew, his daughter, and his wife. A young sheep (jadh') is acceptable as a sacrifice, but a young goat (jadh') is not because the young sheep can impregnate, whereas the young goat cannot. It is permissible for a person to give the skin of the sacrificial animal to the one who skins it, as Allah
سبحانه وتعالى, Mighty and Majestic, said: "Eat from it and feed others" (Surah Al-Hajj,
22:28). The skin is neither eaten nor fed, so this is allowed in sacrifice but not in offerings (hady). Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
عليه السلام did not spend a night in Makkah after migrating from it until his martyrdom, because he disliked spending the night in a land from which the Messenger of Allah
سبحانه وتعالى, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, had migrated.
Commentary #12