It is related that “the Messenger of Allah—may peace and blessings be upon him—performed an ʿaqīqah for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, a ram for each of them,” and that he said, “For a girl one sheep, and for a boy two,” both reports being transmitted by Abū Dāwūd.
As for analogical reasoning, since the ʿaqīqah is a devotional sacrifice (nusuk), the larger animal is deemed superior, by analogy with the sacrificial animals (hady) offered during the pilgrimage.
Concerning the person on whose behalf the rite is performed, the majority hold that it is prescribed only for minor boys and girls. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī diverged, ruling that no ʿaqīqah is offered for a girl, and some scholars allowed it to be performed for an adult. The majority base their view on the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—phrase “on the seventh day,” which points to infancy. Those who differ cite the report from Anas that “the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—offered an ʿaqīqah for himself after he had been sent as a prophet.” Their evidence that it also concerns females is the aforementioned saying, “For a girl one sheep …,” whereas those who restrict it to males rely on his words, “Every boy is held in pledge for his ʿaqīqah.”
With respect to the number of animals, the jurists are likewise divided. Mālik says one sheep is offered for both boy and girl alike. Al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Thawr, Abū Dāwūd and Aḥmad maintain that one sheep is offered for a girl and two for a boy. Their disagreement springs from the varying reports in this field. One of them is the ḥadīth of Umm Kurz al-Kaʿbiyyah, recorded by Abū Dāwūd: “I heard the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—say regarding the ʿaqīqah: ‘Two equivalent sheep for a boy and one sheep for a girl.’ ” “Equivalent” means similar in age and quality, and the report establishes a distinction between the sexes. By contrast, the narration that “he offered a single ram for each of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn” suggests equality between them.
As for the timing of the rite, the majority of scholars say it is to be performed on the seventh day after the child is born. Mālik does not count the day of birth itself within the week if the birth occurred during daylight hours, whereas ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Majishūn does count it. Ibn al-Qāsim states in the ʿUtbiyyah that if the sacrifice is carried out at night it is not valid. Mālik’s students also disagreed about the earliest permissible time: some likened it to the time for Eid sacrifices—namely mid-morning—while others said it may be done after dawn, drawing an analogy with Mālik’s ruling on the hady. Certainly, anyone who allows an Eid offering to be slaughtered at night would also allow the ʿaqīqah at night. It has further been said that it is permissible on the second or third seventh day (i.e., the fourteenth or twenty-first day).
Regarding the animal’s age and soundness, the same conditions that apply to the Eid sacrifice apply here: every defect that disqualifies an Eid offering disqualifies the ʿaqīqah animal as well. I know of no disagreement on this point, whether within Mālik’s school or beyond it.