Rulings on Aqiqa

18-11-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

Please explain to me the principle of Aqiqah (shaving the head of the new born) in Islam. Please explain this to me with the relevant Hadiths of the Prophet (Saws).

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

Prophet Muhammad (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) made the following as Sunnah for us when we get a new born baby: 1- To shave clean his/her head seven days after his/her birth, to weigh the hair and give its weight from silver or gold or their money equivalent as alms. 2- To slaughter a sheep for the girl and two sheep for the boy. 3- To give him/her a good and nice name. al-Bukhari narrated from Sulaiman Ibn Amir al-Dabi () said that Prophet Muhammad (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Aqiqah” (one or two sheep) should be slaughtered for the newborn, shed blood on behalf of him/her and take out any nuisances (that could be stuck to his/her body). Ashab al-Sunan (Abu Dawood, al-Nasa‘i, Ibn Majah, al-Tirmizi) narrated from Samura () he said: Prophet Muhammad (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Every new born is mortgaged to his/her Agiqah, it should be slaughtered on behalf of him/her on his/her seventh day. He should be given a name on that same day and his head clean shaved”. A sound Hadith. Allah knows best.