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ʿAqīqah (), aqeeqa, or aqeeqah is the Islamic tradition of the
sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...
of an animal on the occasion of a child's birth. Aqiqah is a type of ''
sadaqah ' ( , "charity", "benevolence", plural ) in the modern-day Islamic context has come to signify "voluntary Charity (practice), charity". Unlike zakat, which is a obligatory form of almsgiving and one of the five pillars of Islam, ''ṣadaqah'' ...
'' and it is also ''
sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...
'', though not obligatory.


Description

According to hadith and the majority of Islamic scholars, two goats are sacrificed for a boy and one for a girl. If one cannot slaughter on the seventh day, someone may do it on the fourteenth day or the twenty-first day. If one is not capable of doing so, then a person may slaughter at any time before the puberty of the child. The aqiqah is sunnah and
mustahabb ''Mustahabb'' () is an Islamic term referring to an action or thing that is recommended and favoured. ''Mustahabb'' actions are those whose ruling ('' ahkam'') in Islamic law falls between '' mubah'' (neutral; neither encouraged nor discouraged ...
; it is not obligatory at all, so there is no sin on the one who does not do it. According to a hadith in
Muwatta Imam Malik ''Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ'' (, 'the approved') or ''Muwatta Imam Malik'' () of Malik ibn Anas, Imam Malik (711–795) written in the 8th-century, is one of the earliest collections of hadith texts comprising the subjects of Sharia, Islamic law, compile ...
, Fatima donated, in silver equivalent, the shaved-hair weight of her children Hasan, Husayn, Umm Kulthum and Zaynab.


Alternative views


Shia views

Ja'far al-Sadiq Ja'far al-Sadiq (; –765) was a Muslim hadith transmitter and the last agreed-upon Shia Imam between the Twelvers and Isma'ilis. Known by the title al-Sadiq ("The Truthful"), Ja'far was the eponymous founder of the Ja'fari school of Isla ...
, a great grandchild of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
and a prominent scholar in his era, claimed that the shaving, slaughtering for aqiqah, and naming of the child should, ideally, be done within one hour. Additionally, Ja'far al-Sadiq replied in response to a question: "'Would almsgiving (equal to the price of aqiqah) be sufficient instead of aqiqah?'" with the answer that: 'No, it wouldn't be sufficient; Allah likes giving food and submission to his will.'" According to another hadith from Ja'far al-Sadiq, every born is in pawn of aqiqah; namely, it would be exposed to death/kinds of calamities if they don't do aqiqah for the child. It is Sunnah for the parents to eat from the meat of aqiqah.
Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib (; ) was the leader of Banu Hashim, a clan of the Qurayshi tribe of Mecca in the Hejazi region of the Arabian Peninsula. As he was the brother of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, Abdullah, the father of the Islamic Proph ...
performed aqiqah for Muhammad on the seventh day of his birth and invited members of his family for the occasion, who asked "what is this?" to which he replied "aqiqah for Ahmad". He claimed to have named him Ahmad "because of the praises of the inhabitants of the skies and the Earth for him". Muhammad is said to have performed aqiqah for both
Hasan ibn Ali Hasan ibn Ali (; 2 April 670) was an Alids, Alid political and religious leader. The eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Hasan briefly ruled as Rashidun caliphate, Rashidun caliph from January 661 unt ...
and
Husayn ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...
, his grandsons, on the seventh day of their births respectively by sacrificing one sheep each; the leg of which was given to the nurse that helped with the delivery. Anointing the baby with the blood of the sacrificed animal for aqiqah was a common practice among Arab pagans and was, therefore, prohibited in Islam.


Shafi'i view

The Shafiʿi madhdhab allows for an aqiqah practice after the death of a child. This is also the school of law that emphasizes the child’s potential for shafaʿa (intercession). Two prominent representatives of the Shafiʿi madhhab who defend this idea of a deceased child as a heavenly intercessor are alSuyuti (ca. 1445–1505) and al-Ghazzali (ca. 1058-1111).


Abu Hanifa's view

Abu Hanifa Abu Hanifa (; September 699 CE – 767 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, ascetic,Pakatchi, Ahmad and Umar, Suheyl, "Abū Ḥanīfa", in: ''Encyclopaedia Islamica'', Editors-in-Chief: Wilferd Madelung and, Farhad Daftary. and epony ...
, unlike other jurists, held that the aqiqah sacrifice was an illegitimate practice from the pre-Islamic pagan period in Arabia.


Islamic historical usage

The tradition of animal sacrifice and weighing the first haircut against gold or silver for charity appear to have their origins in
pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...
.


See also

* Sacrifice in Islam *
Dhabihah In Islamic law, ''dhabihah'' (; ), also spelled ''zabiha'', is the prescribed method of slaughter for halal animals (excluding fish, which are exempt from this requirement). It consists of a swift, deep incision to the throat with a very sharp kn ...
*
First haircut The first haircut for a human has special significance in certain cultures and religions. It can be considered a rite of passage or a milestone. Indian Hindu In Hindu tradition, from birth, hair is associated with less positive aspects of ...
*
Infant baptism Infant baptism, also known as christening or paedobaptism, is a Christian sacramental practice of Baptism, baptizing infants and young children. Such practice is done in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, va ...


References

{{Authority control Animal sacrifice Islamic terminology Ritual purity in Islam