Someone asked, "How were the sacrifices offered among you during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?"He replied, "In the time of the Prophet ﷺ, a man would sacrifice a single sheep on behalf of himself and his household. They would eat from it and feed others. Then people began to compete with one another, and it became what you now see."
حدثنا عبد الرحمن بن إبراهيم حدثنا ابن أبي فديك حدثني الضحاك بن عثمان عن عمارة بن عبد الله بن صياد عن عطاء بن يسار قال
كيف كانت الضحايا فيكم على عهد رسول الله ﷺ قال كان الرجل في عهد النبي ﷺ يضحي بالشاة عنه وعن أهل بيته فيأكلون ويطعمون ثم تباهى الناس فصار كما ترى
[Sahih]. Tirmidhi narrated it in the Book of Sacrifices, chapter "On the Statement that One Sheep Suffices for a Household," hadith no. 1505, from the report of Dahhak, and he said, hasan sahih. Malik also narrated it from Umara bin Sayyad, in the Pakistani edition of Muwatta, p. 497, and in Sunan al-Kubra of Baihaqi, 9/268, among others.