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If it is argued: His offering an ‘aqīqah sacrifice of one ram each for al-Hasan and al-Husayn indicates (1) that his practice was to offer one animal for each child. ‘Abd al-Haqq (2) graded as authentic the reports of Ibn ‘Abbās and Anas that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, offered one ram for al-Hasan and one ram for al-Husayn (3). Al-Hasan was born in the year of the Battle of Uhud, and al-Husayn the following year.
Al-Tirmidhī (4) narrated from ‘Alī, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, offered a sheep as an ‘aqīqah sacrifice for al-Hasan and said: ‘O Fātimah, shave his head and give the weight of his hair in silver as charity.’” He said: “We weighed it, and its weight was a dirham or a fraction of a dirham.” Although this report’s chain of transmission is not continuous, the reports of Anas and Ibn ‘Abbās suffice.
They said: Moreover, since it is a sacrificial rite, one animal should be offered for each person, as with the Eid sacrifice and the sacrifice for tamattu‘ Hajj.
The answer is that the hadiths prescribing two sheep for a boy and one sheep for a girl are more deserving of being followed, for several reasons: