and for that reason Imām Aḥmad said, “If a man does not have the means to offer the ʿaqīqah, let him borrow the cost. I hope Allah will reimburse him, for he has revived a sunnah.”
Ibn al-Munadhir commented, “Aḥmad is right; reviving and adhering to the sunnah is the best course.”
Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn added, “The ʿaqīqah of an orphan is to be paid from his own property.”
2 – The scholars have differed over what is meant by the newborn being “held in pledge” by his ʿaqīqah:
• One opinion is that the ʿaqīqah is obligatory for the child in the same way that a pledged article remains bound to the one who pledged it.
• Imām Aḥmad said, “Its meaning is that if the child dies while still young and no ʿaqīqah has been offered for him, he will not intercede for his parents.” This view is reinforced by the report narrated by al-Bayhaqī from Buraydah ibn al-Ḥuṣayb: “On the Day of Resurrection people will be questioned about the ʿaqīqah just as they are questioned about the five daily prayers.” Other explanations exist as well.
What matters is that such comparisons underline how strongly this rite is emphasized and that it should not be neglected. Whoever revives it has revived a sunnah that the Prophet ﷺ commanded and practiced.
3 – The commentary on al-Iqnaʿ states: “No one performs the ʿaqīqah except the father. As for the Prophet’s offering on behalf of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, he ﷺ has a greater right over the believers than they have over themselves.”
A number of scholars nevertheless held that, as a recommended act, a person may perform the ʿaqīqah for himself if his father did not do so. This was the view of ʿAṭāʾ and al-Ḥasan, for the rite is prescribed for him and he is ‘held in pledge’ by it; thus he should take the initiative in freeing himself.
4 – Al-Tirmidhī recorded (2832), through the chain of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb from his father from his grandfather, that “the Prophet ﷺ ordered that the newborn be named on his seventh day, that the harm be removed from him, and that the ʿaqīqah be offered.” Allah knows best.
End of the Book of Foods
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