reasoning may leave one uncertain. One might say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ selected the seventh day because many matters are connected to the number seven, and we do not know whether there is a particular wisdom behind this or not. Accordingly, the ʿaqīqah remains recommended even if the child dies before the seventh day.

But is it a condition that the child be delivered alive, or is it sufficient that the soul has been breathed into him?

The answer: Some scholars held the former view, saying that if the soul had been breathed into him but he was delivered dead from his mother’s womb, then no ʿaqīqah is due for him.

Others held that an ʿaqīqah should be offered for him even if he is delivered dead, provided that he was delivered after the soul had been breathed into him. This is because, after the soul has been breathed into him, he will be resurrected; he is therefore a human being whose intercession may be hoped for on the Day of Resurrection. This differs from one who is delivered before the soul has been breathed into him: no ʿaqīqah is offered for him, because he is not a human being. For this reason, a fetus is not resurrected on the Day of Resurrection if it miscarries before the soul has been breathed into it, since it possesses no soul to be restored to it on the Day of Resurrection.

Thus, there are four cases:

First: if it is delivered before the soul has been breathed into it, then no ʿaqīqah is due.

Second: if it is delivered dead after the soul has been breathed into it, there are two scholarly views.

Third: if it is delivered alive and dies before the seventh day, there are likewise two views. However, the view that an ʿaqīqah should be offered is stronger here than the view that it should be offered in the preceding case.

Fourth: if it remains alive until the seventh day and dies on the eighth day, an ʿaqīqah is offered for it according to a single view.

Issue: The commentator mentioned that the child is named on the seventh day. This applies when