Is eating fresh dates and reciting Surat Maryam to facilitate childbirth a religious innovation?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
A custom has spread among women, which is said to facilitate childbirth. It involves eating seven fresh dates and reciting Surat Maryam every day, starting from the end of the eighth month. Is this custom a newly invented religious innovation because it is linked to religion, or what is it?
Answer:
By Allah, I do not know about it. I do not know its origin, nor do I know about it. Dates are said to be good for women in labor, based on the story of Maryam,[Maryam 19:25]. They say that dates have a special property for women during childbirth. Allah knows best. Yes.
A custom has spread among women, which is said to facilitate childbirth. It involves eating seven fresh dates and reciting Surat Maryam every day, starting from the end of the eighth month. Is this custom a newly invented religious innovation because it is linked to religion, or what is it?
Answer:
By Allah, I do not know about it. I do not know its origin, nor do I know about it. Dates are said to be good for women in labor, based on the story of Maryam,
And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates.
وَهُزِّي إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل أكل الرطب، وقراءة سورة مريم لتسهيل الولادة بدعة؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.