The ruling on distributing dates and announcing the name of the newborn on the seventh day

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: It is customary among us that when a person is blessed with a newborn, people gather at his house on the seventh day. Then one of us stands up and distributes dates to those present, and then announces the name of the newborn. Is this considered a religious innovation (bid'ah)?

Answer:
As for naming him on the seventh day and circumcising him—circumcising the male child—and shaving his head, all of these are recommended practices (sunnah) on the seventh day, and this is better. Likewise, slaughtering the 'aqiqah sacrifice on the seventh day and gathering people and his friends to eat from it is a recommended practice (sunnah). As for matters other than these, they are religious innovations (bid'ah). One does not distribute dates; what is prescribed is that the 'aqiqah is slaughtered and those present eat from it. This is the recommended practice (sunnah). As for distributing dates, that is a religious innovation (bid'ah), or distributing sweets.