First Adhān

Home · Sources

Sources

Every ruling on this site links to its source. The backbone is Ibn al-Qayyim’s Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd bi-Aḥkām al-Mawlūd; where the schools differ, each is given from its own books. Every ḥadīth outside Bukhārī and Muslim carries its grading and the scholar who graded it.

The first hours

For mothers: your first forty days

The hospital checklist

Khitān: circumcising your baby boy

Choosing a name

  • Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2832

    The Prophet ﷺ ordered that the newborn be named on his seventh day, the harm removed from him, and the ʿaqīqah made.

    Grading: al-Tirmidhī: ḥasan gharīb. al-Albānī: ḥasan (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Tirmidhī 2832).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2315

    The Prophet ﷺ said: “A son was born to me last night, and I have named him after my forefather Ibrāhīm.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6198

    Under the chapter “Whoever names with the names of the prophets”: Abū Mūsā’s newborn son was named Ibrāhīm by the Prophet ﷺ.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6191

    Al-Mundhir ibn Abī Usayd was brought to the Prophet ﷺ when born. “What is his name?” “So-and-so.” “No, his name is al-Mundhir.” He was named al-Mundhir that day.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 8 §1, pp. 102–111

    Aḥmad cited Samurah (named on the seventh day). Al-Bayhaqī judged naming at birth the sounder practice. Ibn al-Qayyim: a name may be given on the day of birth, within three days, or on the day of the ʿaqīqah, before or after; “the matter is wide.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 8 §5, p. 135

    Naming is the father’s right; if the parents disagree, his choice stands. The child is called after his father (“Call them by their fathers”, al-Aḥzāb 33:5).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • al-Ḥaṭṭāb, Mawāhib al-Jalīl (Mālikī) 3/256

    Ibn al-Qāsim heard: the child is named on his seventh day, “and there is latitude in it”, because of the reports of naming at birth. Ibn Ḥabīb: names may be chosen before the seventh day but given on it. A child for whom no ʿaqīqah will be made, because the family cannot afford it, may be named whenever they wish. The jurists of the cities permit the kunyah Abū al-Qāsim; the prohibition is abrogated.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2132

    “The names most beloved to Allah among your names are ʿAbdullāh and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2135

    Asked why Maryam is called “sister of Hārūn”, the Prophet ﷺ said: “They used to name after their prophets and the righteous before them.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3539

    “Name with my name, but do not take my kunyah.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6187

    A man of the Anṣār named his son al-Qāsim; people would not call him Abū al-Qāsim until they had asked the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “Name with my name, but do not take my kunyah.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2131

    A man called out “Abū al-Qāsim!” at al-Baqīʿ and the Prophet ﷺ turned. The man said he meant someone else, and the Prophet ﷺ said: “Name with my name, but do not take my kunyah.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 8 §2, pp. 111–113; pp. 127–129

    ʿAbdullāh and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān are the most beloved names (the ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth), though Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib preferred the prophets’ names. Naming after prophets is not disliked, per most scholars, “and that is correct”. Ṭalḥah named his ten sons after prophets.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī) 6/417–418

    The most beloved names are ʿAbdullāh and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān; al-Munāwī: then Muḥammad, Aḥmad, Ibrāhīm. ʿAlī and Rashīd are allowed. One named Muḥammad may take the kunyah Abū al-Qāsim; the prohibition is abrogated. An ugly name is changed. Do not name Yasār, Rabāḥ, Najāḥ, Aflaḥ, Barakah, nor with self-praise like al-Rashīd and al-Amīn. Ibn ʿĀbidīn derives a prohibition of ʿAbd al-Nabī from “nor ʿAbd so-and-so”, and quotes al-Munāwī from al-Damīrī: some allowed it, “and most are for prohibition”. A kunyah for a small child is not disliked, since people mean it as a good omen.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī) 8/434–441

    Naming on the seventh day is recommended, and before or after is allowed. Prophets’ and angels’ names are allowed per the madhhab and the majority. Ugly names, and names whose denial sounds like a bad omen, are disliked. “King of Kings” is forbidden. An ugly name should be changed. A kunyah is allowed, even for a small child, and for women too. On Abū al-Qāsim, al-Shāfiʿī forbade it for anyone; Mālik allowed it.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • al-Buhūtī, Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (Ḥanbalī) 3/25–28

    Named on the seventh day (al-Riʿāyah: on the day of birth); naming belongs to the father. Make the name good. Disliked: Ḥarb, Murrah, Ḥazn, Nāfiʿ, Yasār, Aflaḥ, Najīḥ, Barakah, and self-praising names; this is “not ḥarām”. Forbidden: “King of Kings” and the like, names fit only for Allah (Quddūs, al-Barr, Khāliq, Raḥmān), and ʿAbd joined to other than Allah (Ibn Ḥazm’s consensus). Jibrīl and Yāsīn are not disliked. The kunyah Abū al-Qāsim is not disliked after the Prophet’s ﷺ death. A small child, boy or girl, may be given a kunyah.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2139a

    Ibn ʿUmar: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ changed the name ʿĀṣiyah (“disobedient”) and said, “You are Jamīlah (“beautiful”).”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6192

    Zaynab’s name was Barrah (“pious”); it was said she was praising herself, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ named her Zaynab.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2142a

    Zaynab bint Abī Salamah: my name was Barrah and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ named me Zaynab; Zaynab bint Jaḥsh was also called Barrah, and he named her Zaynab.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6190

    Ḥazn (“rough ground”) came to the Prophet ﷺ, who said, “You are Sahl (“easy”).” He said, “I will not change a name my father gave me.” His grandson Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib said: “The roughness has stayed among us ever since.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4954

    A man named Aṣram (“cut off”) came to the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “No, you are Zurʿah (“a sown field”).”

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 4954).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4955

    Hāniʾ was called Abū al-Ḥakam. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah is al-Ḥakam (the Judge)… Who is your eldest child?” “Shurayḥ.” “Then you are Abū Shurayḥ.”

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 4955).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4956

    Abū Dāwūd lists names the Prophet ﷺ changed: al-ʿĀṣ, ʿAzīz, ʿAtalah, Shayṭān, al-Ḥakam, Ghurāb, Ḥubāb and Shihāb (he named one Hishām), Ḥarb to Silm, and a place called ʿAfirah (“barren”) to Khaḍirah (“green”).

    Grading: The Ḥazn ḥadīth at the head of 4956: ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 4956). The list of changed names is Abū Dāwūd’s own note, given without chains (“I omitted their chains for brevity”), so it has no grading of its own.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 8 §3, pp. 129–134

    Changing a name to a better one, for its ugliness or for another good reason such as avoiding self-praise (Barrah to Zaynab). Examples from the Sunnah and the Companions.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6205

    “The most despicable name before Allah on the Day of Resurrection is that of a man called Malik al-Amlāk (King of Kings).”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2143a

    “The lowest name before Allah is a man who calls himself King of Kings.” Sufyān: like “Shāhān Shāh”. In another narration: “There is no king but Allah.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2136

    Samurah: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade us to give our servants four names: Aflaḥ, Rabāḥ, Yasār and Nāfiʿ.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2137

    “Do not name your boy Yasār, Rabāḥ, Najīḥ or Aflaḥ, for you will ask, ‘Is he there?’ and when he is not, the answer will be ‘No’.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2138

    Jābir: the Prophet ﷺ intended to forbid the names Yaʿlā, Barakah, Aflaḥ, Yasār and Nāfiʿ, then said nothing more about it and passed away without forbidding it; ʿUmar too intended to forbid it, then left it.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 8 §2, pp. 113–127

    Ibn Ḥazm reports agreement that every name making one the servant of other than Allah is forbidden (ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā, ʿAbd Hubal, ʿAbd ʿAmr, ʿAbd al-Kaʿbah…), except ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib; so ʿAbd ʿAlī and ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn are not permitted. Forbidden: King of Kings, Sulṭān al-Salāṭīn, Sayyid al-Nās, and Allah’s own names (al-Aḥad, al-Ṣamad, al-Khāliq, al-Razzāq). Disliked: Yasār, Rabāḥ, Najīḥ, Aflaḥ and the like (Mubārak, Mufliḥ, Khayr, Surūr, Niʿmah), names of devils and tyrants, and ugly meanings. Mālik disliked Yāsīn; it is not authentic that Ṭāhā and Yāsīn are names of the Prophet ﷺ.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6203

    Anas had a little brother called Abū ʿUmayr; the Prophet ﷺ would say to him, “Abū ʿUmayr, what happened to the little bird?”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2150

    The same report of Abū ʿUmayr, who had just been weaned.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4970

    ʿĀʾishah said, “Messenger of Allah, all my companions have a kunyah.” He said, “Then take your kunyah from your son ʿAbdullāh” (her sister’s son, ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr), and she was called Umm ʿAbdillāh.

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 4970; al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah 132).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4967

    ʿAlī: “Messenger of Allah, if a son is born to me after you, may I give him your name and your kunyah?” He said, “Yes.”

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 4967).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Zād al-Maʿād 2/316–317

    “The correct view is that taking his name is permitted, taking his kunyah is prevented, the prevention was stronger in his lifetime, and combining the two is prevented.” He adds that ʿAlī called his permission “a concession for me”.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 8 §§4 and 7, pp. 134–144

    A newborn may be given a kunyah, and a man may take one before he has children or after a child of another name (Abū Bakr, ʿUmar’s Abū Ḥafṣ). On Abū al-Qāsim the scholars differ: forbidden always, forbidden only with the name Muḥammad, or permitted after the Prophet’s ﷺ lifetime.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4948

    “You will be called on the Day of Resurrection by your names and your fathers’ names, so make your names good.”

    Grading: ḍaʿīf: Abū Dāwūd himself said Ibn Abī Zakariyyā did not meet Abū al-Dardāʾ. al-Albānī: ḍaʿīf (Ḍaʿīf Abī Dāwūd 4948; al-Ḍaʿīfah 5460). al-Bayhaqī: mursal. al-Mundhirī: munqaṭiʿ. Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ: isnād ḍaʿīf. (Ibn al-Qayyim and al-Nawawī had described its chain as ḥasan or jayyid.)

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4950

    “Name yourselves with the names of the prophets. The names most beloved to Allah are ʿAbdullāh and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the truest are Ḥārith and Hammām, and the ugliest are Ḥarb and Murrah.”

    Grading: al-Albānī: ṣaḥīḥ except the opening “Name yourselves with the names of the prophets”, which is weak (Ḍaʿīf Abī Dāwūd 4950; Irwāʾ 1178).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4966

    “Whoever takes my name should not take my kunyah, and whoever takes my kunyah should not take my name.”

    Grading: munkar (al-Albānī).

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • California Department of Public Health, All County Letter 25-08, “Diacritical Marks” (12/23/2025)

    AB 64 (2025) allows diacritical marks on certificates of live birth, from a list of ten marks (acute, grave, circumflex, umlaut, tilde, cedilla, ring, macron, breve, caron). “Starting July 1, 2026, CDPH-VR will begin amending records to include diacritical marks. No earlier than two years after the appropriation of funds, diacritical marks may be included upon registration.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Texas Health and Safety Code §191.009, “Use of Diacritical Marks” (added 2017)

    “The state registrar shall ensure that a vital statistics record issued under this title properly records any diacritical mark used in a person’s name.” Diacritical marks are defined as accents, tildes, graves, umlauts and cedillas. (Official text: statutes.capitol.texas.gov, HS 191.009.)

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Rules of the Georgia Department of Public Health, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 511-1-3-.08, “Child Names on Birth Certificates”

    “No portion of the child’s name as entered on the birth certificate shall include any number, symbol, or other non-identifying name information.” Parents may also choose a surname that is neither parent’s “in accordance with a bonafide cultural naming convention practiced in the nation of origin of one or both of them.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • NYC Department of Health, Birth Certificates

    “Be careful when you fill out your baby’s full name and your mailing address. Correcting a birth certificate can cost money or even require a trip to court.”

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • New York State Department of Health, Vital Records

    New York State vital records (outside New York City), including corrections and amendments (toll-free 855-322-1022). No published rule on name characters was found.

    Cited in Choosing a name
  • Illinois Department of Public Health, Birth, Death and Other Records

    Illinois vital records and amendments. No published rule on name characters was found.

    Cited in Choosing a name

The seventh day

  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2838

    Samurah: the Prophet ﷺ said, “Every child is held in pledge by his ʿaqīqah: it is slaughtered for him on his seventh day, his head is shaved, and he is named.”

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 2838; Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl 1165). al-Tirmidhī (1522): ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

    Cited in Choosing a name, The seventh day
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2837

    The same ḥadīth in Hammām’s wording “and smeared with blood” (wa-yudammā). Abū Dāwūd: this is Hammām’s mistake; the others narrated “and he is named” (wa-yusammā), and this wording is not acted upon.

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ except the words “wa-yudammā”; the preserved wording is “wa-yusammā” (al-Albānī).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1522

    Samurah’s ḥadīth: “slaughter for him on the seventh day, name him, and shave his head.”

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (Darussalam on sunnah.com); al-Tirmidhī: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5472

    Salmān ibn ʿĀmir: “With a child comes an ʿaqīqah, so shed blood on his behalf and remove the harm from him.” It also confirms that al-Ḥasan heard the ʿaqīqah ḥadīth from Samurah.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2834

    Umm Kurz: “For a boy, two matching sheep; for a girl, one.” Aḥmad explained “matching” as equal or close (in age).

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 2834).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1516

    Umm Kurz: “For a boy two sheep and for a girl one, and it does not harm you whether they are male or female.”

    Grading: al-Tirmidhī: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1513

    ʿĀʾishah: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed them: for a boy two matching sheep, and for a girl one.

    Grading: al-Tirmidhī: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. al-Albānī: ṣaḥīḥ (Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl 1166).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2842

    Asked about the ʿaqīqah, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah does not love ʿuqūq”, as if disliking the word, and: “Whoever has a child and would love to offer a sacrifice for him, let him do so: for a boy two matching sheep, and for a girl one.”

    Grading: ḥasan (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 2842); ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Nasāʾī 4223).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik, Kitāb al-ʿAqīqah 26/1 and 26/4

    The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever has a child and wants to sacrifice for him, let him do so” (26/1). Ibn ʿUmar gave one sheep each for his sons and his daughters (26/4).

    Grading: 26/1 is mursal (from a man of Banū Ḍamrah from his father); its meaning is in Abū Dāwūd 2842, which al-Albānī graded ḥasan.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2841

    Ibn ʿAbbās: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ offered the ʿaqīqah for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, a ram for each.

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ, though al-Nasāʾī’s wording “two rams each” is sounder (al-Albānī).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Sunan al-Nasāʾī 4219

    Ibn ʿAbbās: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ offered the ʿaqīqah for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn with two rams each.

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ (Darussalam; al-Albānī judged this wording the sounder).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1519

    ʿAlī: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made the ʿaqīqah for al-Ḥasan with a sheep and said, “Fāṭimah, shave his head and give the weight of his hair in silver.” It weighed a dirham or part of one.

    Grading: Graded differently. al-Tirmidhī: “ḥasan gharīb, and its chain is not connected” (Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī did not meet ʿAlī). al-Albānī: ḥasan (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Tirmidhī 1519), with a supporting chain (Irwāʾ 1175). al-Bayhaqī and Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ: munqaṭiʿ (broken). Ibn Bāz: the weighing of the hair is not authentic.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik, Kitāb al-ʿAqīqah 26/2–3

    Fāṭimah, daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, weighed the hair of Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthūm, and gave its weight in silver in charity.

    Grading: A report of Fāṭimah’s practice through Muḥammad al-Bāqir, who did not meet her (mursal).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 7, pp. 97–100

    Scholars recommended shaving the baby’s head at the ʿaqīqah (Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr). Aḥmad: recommended on the seventh day, “no harm” in giving its weight in silver. Fāṭimah did so for her children. The Prophet ﷺ forbade qazaʿ, shaving part of a child’s head and leaving part (Ibn ʿUmar, in Bukhārī and Muslim); al-Nawawī classes it as disliked (karāhat tanzīh).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2843

    Buraydah: before Islam, when a boy was born we slaughtered a sheep and smeared his head with its blood. When Allah brought Islam, we slaughtered a sheep, shaved his head and anointed it with saffron.

    Grading: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī, Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 2843).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 5308

    ʿĀʾishah: before Islam they dipped cotton in the ʿaqīqah’s blood and put it on the shaved head of the baby. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Put perfume (khalūq) in place of the blood.”

    Grading: ṣaḥīḥ: al-Albānī (al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah 463; Irwāʾ 4/389), Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ, and Ibn Ḥajar (“isnāduhu ṣaḥīḥ”).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Buraydah (marfūʿ), al-Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ 4882; al-Bayhaqī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā 19771

    “The ʿaqīqah is slaughtered on the seventh, the fourteenth or the twenty-first.”

    Grading: Disputed. al-Albānī: ḍaʿīf in Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl 1170, but ṣaḥīḥ in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 4132. al-Ṭabarānī: only Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim narrated it from Qatādah. al-Suyūṭī: ṣaḥīḥ.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • ʿĀʾishah (her own saying), al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak 7804; Ibn al-Mundhir

    “The sunnah is two matching sheep for a boy and one for a girl, cut at the joints with no bone broken; one eats, feeds and gives charity; on the seventh day, or else the fourteenth, or else the twenty-first.”

    Grading: Disputed. al-Ḥākim: ṣaḥīḥ al-isnād. al-Albānī: the chain looks sound but has defects: a break, irregularity and an inserted phrase (Irwāʾ 4/395; maʿlūl, Irwāʾ 1179). Ibn Ḥazm: not authentic (al-Muḥallā 7/529).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Anas, al-Bayhaqī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā 9/300; al-Ṭabarānī, al-Awsaṭ 994

    The Prophet ﷺ made an ʿaqīqah for himself after he became a prophet.

    Grading: Disputed. al-Bayhaqī: munkar. al-Nawawī: bāṭil (al-Majmūʿ 8/431). Ibn Ḥajar: not established (Fatḥ al-Bārī 9/509). Its well-known narrator ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥarrar is abandoned. al-Albānī: “its chain is ḥasan” through another route (al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah 2726).

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Muḥammad al-Bāqir (mursal), Abū Dāwūd, al-Marāsīl 379

    About the ʿaqīqah Fāṭimah made for al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn: “Send a leg to the midwife, eat and feed others, and do not break any of its bones.”

    Grading: mursal (a Successor reporting from the Prophet ﷺ): Ibn Ḥazm, Ibn al-Qayyim (Zād al-Maʿād 2/303); Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ: broken chain.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • ʿĀʾishah, via Ibn al-Mundhir; quoted in Kashshāf al-Qināʿ 3/31

    At the slaughter say: “In the name of Allah. O Allah, for You and to You: this is the ʿaqīqah of so-and-so.” (In Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, Ibn al-Mundhir narrates it from ʿĀʾishah from the Prophet ﷺ: “Slaughter in his name and say…”)

    Grading: Ibn al-Mundhir: ḥasan. al-ʿIrāqī (Ṭarḥ al-Tathrīb 5/212): one chain has a weak narrator, and it was also narrated with a ḥasan chain.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §§1–7, pp. 36–61

    The ʿaqīqah is a sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, practised in Madīnah; the reports against it “are nothing”. Obligation versus recommendation: Aḥmad would not call it obligatory, but said, “I would not like one who is able to leave it.” If he must borrow, “I hope Allah replaces it for him; he has revived a sunnah.”

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §8, pp. 62–63; §22, pp. 94–96

    Aḥmad: on the seventh day, otherwise the fourteenth, otherwise the twenty-first. Mālik: the day of birth is not counted unless the baby was born before dawn. “The restriction is one of recommendation: if he slaughtered on the fourth, eighth, tenth or later, it is valid.”

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §10, pp. 65–68

    The ʿaqīqah is for girls as well as boys, against those who limited it to boys. Two for a boy and one for a girl, per the ḥadīths of Umm Kurz and ʿĀʾishah; Mālik and Ibn ʿUmar: one for each.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §11, pp. 69–75

    The purposes of the ʿaqīqah: an offering for the child at the start of life, a ransom like the ram that ransomed Ismāʿīl, and a meal of thanks at a great joy. On “held in pledge”, Aḥmad said: held back from interceding for his parents. Ibn al-Qayyim prefers: freed by it from Shayṭān’s hold.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §§12–13 and 17, pp. 75–80, 84–86

    Cooking it is better than giving it raw: it spares the poor and the neighbours the work, and cooked food brings more joy. Not breaking the bones is a good omen for the child’s soundness (Aḥmad); Mālik and al-Zuhrī allowed breaking them. Eat, gift and give in charity, and send something to the midwife.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §§14–16, pp. 80–84

    Only what is valid as an uḍḥiyah is valid as an ʿaqīqah (Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr reports consensus). One animal per child; Aḥmad did not favour one camel for seven children. Mālik: sheep are dearest to him.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §3, pp. 43–45; §11, p. 71

    Smearing the baby with blood was a Jāhiliyyah practice. The Prophet ﷺ replaced it with saffron; al-Zuhrī, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad and Isḥāq disliked smearing with blood. The “wa-yudammā” wording is Hammām’s mistake.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §19, pp. 87–88

    Aḥmad: “that is on the father”, yet he approved of one doing it for himself as an adult if it was not done: “whoever does it, that is good.” Aḥmad called the Ibn Muḥarrar report of the Prophet ﷺ doing it for himself munkar.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §21, pp. 93–94

    Say “Bismillāh” and name the child whose ʿaqīqah it is. Ibn al-Mundhir: “this is ḥasan; and if he intends the ʿaqīqah and does not say it aloud, it suffices.” Aḥmad: say Bismillāh and slaughter with the intention.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn al-Qayyim, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, ch. 6 §18, pp. 86–87

    When the ʿaqīqah and the uḍḥiyah coincide, three reports from Aḥmad: one animal counts for both, it counts for whichever was intended, or no answer.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī) 6/336

    Name the child on his seventh day, shave his head, and (according to “the three imams”) give the hair’s weight in silver or gold. Then the ʿaqīqah, as something permitted (ibāḥah) or voluntary (taṭawwuʿ): one sheep fit for an uḍḥiyah, for a boy and a girl alike. Raw or cooked, bones broken or not, with an invitation or without. Al-Shāfiʿī and Aḥmad hold it a confirmed sunnah: two sheep for a boy, one for a girl.

    Cited in Choosing a name, The seventh day
  • al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, with al-Dasūqī’s Ḥāshiyah (Mālikī) 2/126

    Recommended for the father, from his own wealth: one animal valid as an uḍḥiyah, boy or girl alike, on the seventh day, by day. The day of birth is not counted if the baby was born after dawn. Its time lapses at sunset of the seventh (a weaker view allows the second and third weeks). Shave the head even of a girl, and give its weight in gold or silver. Breaking the bones is allowed. Making it a walīmah that people are invited to is disliked; it is cooked and eaten by the family and others in their own places. Smearing the baby with its blood is disliked.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • al-Ḥaṭṭāb, Mawāhib al-Jalīl (Mālikī) 3/256–257

    The ʿaqīqah is slaughtered by day; the preferred time is mid-morning to noon, it is disliked from just after noon (zawāl) until sunset, and between dawn and sunrise; at night it is not valid.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī) 8/429–433

    A confirmed sunnah: two sheep for a boy and one for a girl; one for a boy achieves the basic sunnah. Same conditions as the uḍḥiyah; a cow or camel may be shared by seven. Joints separated without breaking bones (if broken, it is against the better course, not disliked). Cooked, ideally sweet; sending it to the poor is better than inviting them, but both are allowed. The day of birth is counted among the seven; if born at night, the following day. It does not lapse, but should not be delayed past puberty; then the person may do it for himself. Smearing with blood is disliked; saffron is recommended. Shave on the seventh and give the hair’s weight in gold, else silver, boy and girl alike.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ 8/447

    Al-Shāfiʿī: “Two men went to extremes about the ʿaqīqah: one said it is obligatory and one said it is an innovation.” Recommended per Mālik, Abū Thawr, the majority, and the sound position of Aḥmad.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī) 9/459–463

    A sunnah per most scholars; not obligatory. Better than giving its value in charity. Two matching sheep for a boy and one for a girl; one for a boy is valid. On the seventh day, then the fourteenth, then the twenty-first (from ʿĀʾishah); before or after is still valid. Shave the boy’s head and name him on the seventh; giving the hair’s weight in silver is good; naming before the seventh is allowed. Smearing with blood is disliked. Its meat is like the uḍḥiyah’s, cooked in pieces without breaking bones.

    Cited in Choosing a name, The seventh day
  • al-Buhūtī, Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (Ḥanbalī) 3/25–31

    A sunnah for the father; if two sheep are not possible, one; he may borrow if able to repay. The child does not do it for himself when grown (Aḥmad), but if he does it is not disliked, and a group of Ḥanbalīs recommend it. Seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, then any day; “it is not limited to childhood”. Shave a boy’s head, not a girl’s, on the seventh, and give its weight in silver. Saffron is fine; blood is disliked. Cooked with water and salt, no bones broken; give the midwife a thigh.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Ibn ʿUthaymīn, al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ ʿalā Zād al-Mustaqniʿ (Ḥanbalī) 7/493–495

    Slaughter on the seventh day: “if born on Saturday, slaughter on Friday, one day before the weekday of birth; this is the rule.” If no barber can shave a newborn safely, estimate the hair’s weight in silver.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • al-Mawsūʿah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaytiyyah 30/278–279, “ʿAqīqah”

    The majority count the day of birth among the seven; if born at night, the following day is counted. The Mālikīs do not count the day of birth for one born after dawn.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Qurʾān, al-Baqarah 2:286

    Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Penny Appeal USA, Aqiqah Program (price page, viewed 2026-10-09)

    “The sunnah is to sacrifice two goats for a boy and one goat for a girl. The current price of a goat is $190 but is subject to change.” The country is chosen by the charity.

    Cited in The seventh day
  • Human Appeal USA, Aqiqa (price page, viewed 2026-10-09)

    Aqiqa (boy) $320; Aqiqa (girl) $160.

    Cited in The seventh day

When a baby dies

  • Qurʾān, al-Baqarah 2:156

    Those who, when a hardship strikes them, say: we belong to Allah, and to Him we return.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1248

    Anas: the Prophet ﷺ said, there is no Muslim whose three children die before reaching maturity, but Allah brings him into Paradise by the grace of His mercy to them.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1381

    Anas: any Muslim whose three children die before maturity, Allah brings him into Paradise by the grace of His mercy to them.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6424

    Abū Hurayrah: the Prophet ﷺ said, Allah says: My believing servant has no reward with Me, when I take back his dearest one from the people of this world and he bears it hoping for My reward, except Paradise.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1249–1250 (also 101)

    Abū Saʿīd: the women asked the Prophet ﷺ for a day of their own. He taught them and said: any woman whose three children die, they will be a screen for her from the Fire. A woman asked: and two? He said: and two. Abū Hurayrah added: who had not reached maturity.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2635

    Abū Ḥassān told Abū Hurayrah that two of his children had died and asked for something to comfort them. He said: their little ones are the little ones of Paradise. One of them meets his father, or his parents, and takes hold of his garment or his hand, and does not let go until Allah brings him and his father into Paradise.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1303

    As his baby son Ibrāhīm was dying, the Prophet’s ﷺ eyes filled with tears. Asked about it, he said: this is mercy. The eye weeps and the heart grieves, and we say only what pleases our Lord; and we are grieving at parting from you, O Ibrāhīm.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1382

    Al-Barāʾ: when Ibrāhīm, the Prophet’s ﷺ son, died, he said: he has a wet-nurse in Paradise.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Sunan al-Nasāʾī 1870

    A man used to bring his little son to the Prophet ﷺ. The boy died, and the Prophet ﷺ said to him: would it not please you that you will not come to any gate of Paradise without finding him there, hurrying to open it for you?

    Grading: Ṣaḥīḥ: al-Albānī (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Nasāʾī); Darussalam (on sunnah.com); Ibn Ḥajar, “its chain is ṣaḥīḥ” (Fatḥ al-Bārī 3/145); al-Arnaʾūṭ, “its chain is ṣaḥīḥ” (takhrīj of Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 2947). Via dorar.net.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1021

    When a servant’s child dies, Allah asks the angels: did you take the fruit of his heart? What did My servant say? They say: he praised You and said “we belong to Allah and to Him we return”. Allah says: build for My servant a house in Paradise, and call it the House of Praise.

    Grading: Ḥasan: al-Tirmidhī (ḥasan gharīb); al-Albānī (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Tirmidhī 1021; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 795; ḥasan li-ghayrihi in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb 2012); Ibn Ḥajar (ḥasan). Graded weak by Darussalam (on sunnah.com) and, for its chain in Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 2948, by al-Arnaʾūṭ, who graded it ḥasan in his takhrīj of Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn 1395. Via dorar.net.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī 2:389

    Ibn al-Mundhir: the scholars agree that a child known to have been born alive, who cried out, is prayed over; such a child is washed and prayed over “without disagreement”. For a baby born without showing life (istihlāl: crying or another sign of life), the scholars differ about the funeral prayer: after four months Aḥmad said it is washed and prayed over; Mālik and the Ḥanafīs said it is not prayed over unless it showed life; al-Shāfiʿī had both views. (This passage concerns the prayer; washing has its own details in each school.)

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Life Is Temporary, “When a child dies” (Inheriting Islam)

    The full guide: a miscarriage before about four months, a loss after four months or a stillbirth, a baby who lived even briefly, an older child; washing, shrouding, naming and the janāzah prayer in all four schools; the mother after a loss; paperwork by country.

    Cited in When a baby dies
  • Life Is Temporary, “Grief support”

    Muslim and general grief support, with crisis lines.

    Cited in When a baby dies