Two issues:

First: if a person has seven daughters for whom he has not offered an ʿaqīqah sacrifice, would it suffice for him to slaughter one camel on their behalf? The answer is: it would not suffice.

Second: if he slaughtered one camel for a single girl, it has been said that it would not suffice, because this differs from what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ specified. It has also been said that it would suffice, because it is better than a sheep.

“It is slaughtered on the seventh day; if that is missed, then on the fourteenth; and if that is missed, then on the twenty-first, …”

His statement, “It is slaughtered on the seventh day”: that is, it is recommended to slaughter it on the seventh day (1). Thus, if the child is born on Saturday, it is slaughtered on Friday—that is, one day before the corresponding day of the following week. This is the rule. If the child is born on Thursday, then it is slaughtered on Wednesday, and so on.

The wisdom behind its being on the seventh day is that the seventh day completes the cycle of all the days of the week. Thus, if the child is born on Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will have passed. By the passing of all the days of the week, one takes it as a good omen that this child will remain alive and have a long life.

Based on this reasoning, if the child dies before the seventh day, the ʿaqīqah is no longer due, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “It is slaughtered on the seventh day” (2). But this