Discussion of some of the rulings of the 'Aqiqah.

The Shaykh : After this, we move on to the other issue I mentioned at the beginning of this talk, which I wanted to remind you of and repeat for emphasis. It is that our brother Abu Sa'd—may Allah make us and him happy in this world and the Hereafter—has revived a sunnah (recommended practice) that many of the elite, let alone the common people, have long neglected. I mean the 'Aqiqah, the slaughter for the occasion of a newborn. This is a sunnah, indeed an obligatory sunnah, commanded by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for every father whom Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) blesses with a child. If the child is a boy, he must slaughter two animals; if it is a girl, he must slaughter one, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . That is: they are similar in age, size, and color; that is, in the broader sense that falls under the meaning of equivalent, this is equivalent to that; that is, in body, color, age, and the like.
, this is the expression in the Shari'ah regarding the boy, meaning it is obligatory. It is obligatory for the boy that two sheep be slaughtered on his behalf, as in other hadiths, on his seventh day. They are slaughtered on his behalf on his seventh day. If that is not feasible for him, and this happens often, then in the second week; that is, on the fourteenth day. If that is not feasible for him, then on the twenty-first day. That means there are three stages. The first stage, which is the most preferred and the best, is to slaughter in the first week, that is, on the seventh day of the child's birth. Otherwise, in the second week, that is, on the fourteenth day. Otherwise, on the twenty-first day.
This obligatory sunnah—regrettably—is neglected by most people today, even though they may do what is not obligatory. A person, on some occasion, may slaughter not a sheep or two, but whatever Allah wills of sheep and goats on the occasion of some joy. This is not prohibited by the Shari'ah, but one must pay attention to the Shari'ah by prioritizing what is most important. If this person is among those whom Allah has blessed, and he is able, on the occasion of one of the joys that occur in a person's life, to slaughter an animal or more that the Lawgiver did not command, but He also did not forbid, then it is more fitting and better for him to pay attention to slaughtering what Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) commanded through the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the occasion that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) provided him with a boy. He must perform gratitude for this blessing. This is a blessing. And we today live in a time when the paths of corruption and deviation have multiplied. This is one of the wonders of what happens in this time. You find people whom Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has provided with wives, or you find a person whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has provided with a fertile wife, so Allah provides him with the first, the second, and the third child, and then they become tired of this continuous blessing. They resort to causes of reducing or limiting population, as they say today. Meanwhile, you find another person who has been given a barren woman, so he goes from doctor to doctor, wanting to have himself examined, to have his wife examined. He may be exposed to some of the forbidden things, such as exposing his 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered) or his wife's, in pursuit of what? In pursuit of obtaining a child. Look at this contradiction among people today. One, our Lord provides him with child after child, and he considers this good too much, becomes tired of it, rejects it, and resorts to means of population control. The other resorts to means of curing infertility, which may be from him, or from her, or from both of them together.
If Allah (Mighty and Majestic)—the witness—if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has blessed a person with a fertile wife, this is a good that Allah has presented to him, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated in the famous authentic hadith: . And in a narration: . That is: seek from women those whose fathers and mothers are known for what? For procreation and many children. Because the Messenger (peace be upon him) loves for his Ummah (the Muslim community) to multiply and multiply, so that he may boast of them to the nations on the Day of Resurrection. If this person has been provided with a child by Allah (Mighty and Majestic), it is obligatory upon him to appreciate the gratitude of this blessing, and that is by slaughtering for Allah either a sheep if it is a girl, or two sheep if it is a boy.