Is there a specific day and specific time for the 'Aqiqah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : A questioner asks and says: Is there a specific day and specific time for the 'Aqiqah?
The Shaykh : All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from our bad deeds. Whoever Allah guides has no one to misguide, and whoever He leaves to misguide has no one to guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
As for what follows:
The 'Aqiqah, as it came in some authentic hadiths: is obligatory, and this is a timing for such a worship. It is not permissible for a Muslim to exceed this timing except for a compelling excuse.
Sunan ad-Darimi 6:25: And in some other narrations, there is a relaxation in this worship indicating that there is room for postponing it to the fourteenth day, and finally to the twenty-first. The meaning of this is that if it does not become easy for him to slaughter on the seventh day, then it is on the fourteenth; if it does not become easy for him, then it is on the twenty-first, and this is the last limit for which a text has come regarding the timing of the 'Aqiqah. And as I said just now:
If there is a compelling excuse, it is like the prayer that a Muslim misses its time for; its case is as he (peace be upon him) said in the authentic hadith:: So the time for the forgotten prayer, or the prayer that the obligated person slept through, is when he wakes up for it or when he remembers it. Likewise, every time-bound worship in the Shari'ah that does not have another specific time, its time is when it becomes easy for him to do so.
So if you know what has preceded regarding the timing of the 'Aqiqah: the first time is on the seventh day, the second time is on the fourteenth day, and the last time is on the twenty-first day. Other than that, we cannot find a time for it except for the one for whom it did not become easy in these three times. So when it becomes easy for him to slaughter, he slaughters, and we hope in this situation that Allah will accept it from him. Yes.
The Shaykh : All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from our bad deeds. Whoever Allah guides has no one to misguide, and whoever He leaves to misguide has no one to guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
As for what follows:
The 'Aqiqah, as it came in some authentic hadiths:
It is slaughtered for the newborn on the seventh day
تُذبح عن المولود في اليوم السابعIt is slaughtered for him on his seventh day
يُذبح عنه يوم سابعهIf there is a compelling excuse, it is like the prayer that a Muslim misses its time for; its case is as he (peace be upon him) said in the authentic hadith:
Whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it, let him pray it when he remembers it; there is no expiation for it except that
مَن نسي صلاة أو نام عنها فليصلها حين يذكرها لا كفارة لها إلا ذلكSo if you know what has preceded regarding the timing of the 'Aqiqah: the first time is on the seventh day, the second time is on the fourteenth day, and the last time is on the twenty-first day. Other than that, we cannot find a time for it except for the one for whom it did not become easy in these three times. So when it becomes easy for him to slaughter, he slaughters, and we hope in this situation that Allah will accept it from him. Yes.