The Ruling on Placing the Foot of the Bride in the Blood of a Sheep

Question :

One of our customs is that the family of the girl who will marry place her foot in the blood of a sheep slaughtered on the night of the wedding. What is the ruling of the Islamic Law on this?

Answer:

There is no basis for this custom in the Islamic Law and it is an evil custom because:

1. It is a corrupt belief with no basis in the Islamic Law.

2. Soiling her with polluted blood is foolishness because it is

commanded to remove it and to avoid it.

I would like to take this opportunity to say to my Muslim brothers, that it is legislated when a person is affected by some pollutant, that he should hasten to remove it and cleanse it, for this is from the guidance of the Prophet. Because when the bedouin man urinated in the mosque, the Prophet, ordered that a bucket of water be poured over his urine.

Likewise, when the baby boy urinated in the chamber of the Prophet, the Prophet called for water and he poured it over the boy's urine.

Delaying the removal of pollution will cause a person to forget it, then to pray when he is in a state of ritual pollution, even though he may be excused for it, according to the most authoritative opinion. If he prayed with some pollution which he had forgotten to clean, his prayer would be valid, but he might remember it during the prayer and in that case, since he cannot rid himself of the pollutant and continue his prayer, it is necessary for him to stop his prayer and leave, then start it again.

In any case, this evil custom about which the question was asked entails soiling the woman with a pollutant, which is foolishness, because the Islamic Law orders the removal of pollution and cleansing of it. Also, I fear that it might be another (un-Islamic) belief, which is that they slaughter it either for the jinn or the devils or the like, and that would be a form of shirk and it is well known that Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful does not forgive shirk. And Allah knows better.