The second view is that he—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was circumcised on the day the angels opened his heart (1), while he was in the care of his wet nurse, Halīmah.
The third view is that his grandfather, ‘Abd al-Muttalib, circumcised him on the seventh day after his birth, prepared a feast for him, and named him Muhammad.
Abū ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said (2): “There is a singular hadith on this subject, related with a chain of transmission: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad narrated to us, saying: Muhammad ibn ‘Īsā narrated to us, saying: Yahyā ibn Ayyūb al-‘Allāf narrated to us, saying: Muhammad ibn Abī al-Sarī al-‘Asqalānī narrated to us, saying: al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us, from Shu‘ayb, from ‘Atā’ al-Khurāsānī, from ‘Ikrimah, from Ibn ‘Abbās, that ‘Abd al-Muttalib circumcised the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—on the seventh day after his birth, held a feast for him, and named him Muhammad. Yahyā ibn Ayyūb said: ‘I sought this hadith but found it with none of the hadith scholars I met except Ibn Abī al-Sarī’ (3).”
(1) Reported by al-Tabarānī in al-Awsat (5821), Abū Nu‘aym in Dalā’il al-Nubuwwa (1:155), and Ibn ‘Asākir in Tārīkh Dimashq (3:410). The author states in Tuhfat al-Mawdūd (p. 304): “This chain of transmission cannot serve as evidence. The hadith concerning the angel’s opening of the Prophet’s heart—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—has been transmitted through several routes as a report traced back to the Prophet. None mentions Gabriel circumcising him except this hadith; it is therefore shādhdh (anomalous) and gharīb (singular).” Al-Dhahabī judged it “munkar (unacceptable)” in Tārīkh al-Islām (1:486).
(2) In al-Tamhīd (21:61; 23:140) and al-Istī‘āb (1:51). I have not found it transmitted with a chain by anyone other than Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr. Muhammad ibn Abī al-Sarī alone transmitted it. Ibn Ma‘īn deemed him trustworthy, Abū Hātim considered him weak, and Ibn ‘Adī said that he made frequent mistakes. See Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (26:358). Al-Dhahabī states in Mīzān al-I‘tidāl (4:24): “This Muhammad has transmitted hadiths that are considered objectionable.”
(3) The passage “Abū ‘Umar said … al-Sarī” also appears in the main text of مب and ن and in the margins of ص and ع, marked sahh (correct). In the margin of ع, however, it is continuous with the preceding passage.