Is Adhān and Iqāmah in a Newborn’s Ear a Proven Sunnah?

📖 Is Saying Adhān and Iqāmah in the Newborn’s Ears Proven in Authentic Ḥadīths?
❖ Adapted from the book “Wālidayn aur Aulād ke Ḥuqūq” by Shaykh Jāwēd Iqbāl Sīālkōtī

✿ Summary Verdict:

There is no authentic ḥadīth that proves the practice of saying adhān in the right ear and iqāmah in the left ear of a newborn at the time of birth. The narrations cited in favor of this practice are unauthentic and not suitable as evidence in Islamic rulings.

✿ Analysis of Commonly Cited Narrations

➊ Narration of Abū Rāfiʿ regarding Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī رضي الله عنهما

Claimed Text:
The Prophet ﷺ gave adhān in the ear of Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī when he was born.
Sources: Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, etc.

Status: Ḍaʿīf (Weak)

• Reason: Contains ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUbaydullāh, a weak narrator.
• Scholars’ Verdicts:
  • Al-Khaṭīb: “Weak”
  • Ibn Ḥajar in Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb (no. 3065): “Weak”
  • Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr (no. 1985): Declares the narration unreliable.

➋ Narration Attributed to Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī رضي الله عنهما

Claimed Text:
“When a child is born, adhān should be said in the right ear and iqāmah in the left. Then the child will not be afflicted with Umm al-Ṣibyān (a type of illness).”

Status: Mawḍūʿ (Fabricated)

• Reasons:
  • Narration contains three discredited narrators:
    ① Marwān ibn Sālim al-Ghifārī
    • Bukhārī & Muslim: Munkar al-ḥadīth
    • Sājī: Kadhdhāb (liar), fabricator
    • Dāraqutnī & Nasāʾī: Matūrūk (abandoned)
    • Ibn Abī Ḥātim: Extremely unreliable
    • Ibn Ḥajar: Matūrūk (Taqrīb, no. 6570)
    • ② Yaḥyā ibn al-ʿAlāʾ
    • Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: Liar, fabricates ḥadīths
    • Nasāʾī & Dāraqutnī: Matūrūk al-ḥadīth
    • Ibn Ḥajar: Accused of fabrication (Taqrīb, no. 7618)
    • ③ Ṭalḥah al-ʿAqīlī
    • Majhūl (unknown) narrator
    • Ibn Ḥajar: Majhūl (Taqrīb, no. 3029)

➌

Claimed Text:
The Prophet ﷺ gave adhān in the right ear and iqāmah in the left of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī.

Source: Shuʿab al-Īmān by al-Bayhaqī

Status: Fabricated (Mawḍūʿ)

• Reason: Contains Muḥammad ibn Yūnus al-Karīmī
  • Ibn ʿAdī: Accused of fabricating ḥadīths
  • Ibn Ḥibbān: Fabricated over 1,000 ḥadīths
  • Mūsā ibn Hārūn & Qāsim al-Muṭarraz: Declared him a liar
  • Ibn Ḥajar: Weak narrator (Taqrīb, no. 6678)

✅ Conclusion:

• There is no ṣaḥīḥ (authentic) or ḥasan (good) narration that proves adhān in the newborn’s right ear or iqāmah in the left.
• All narrations cited in support are either weak, abandoned, or fabricated.
• Therefore, this practice cannot be established as a Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.