Spending money on the poor

Q: I want to know about urdu word "nazar e muyyan", people sacrifice animals if they are ill, or calamity stricken and want to get out of difficulties.

Note: This is done without any commitment. There is another type of commitment that if I succeed I will spend such and such on the poor. I am asking about the 1st type. Does it have any relavance. If that is true, can I spend money because I cannot sacrifice an animal because of living in a foreign place?   

A: Yes. You may spend the money on some poor person.  

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

Answered by:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)