Ruling on ʿAqīqah in Light of Qur’an and Hadith
Source: Fatāwā Amunpūrī by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpūrī
❖ Question
What is the ruling on ʿAqīqah (sacrifice for a newborn) according to the Qur’an and Hadith?
❖ Answer
ʿAqīqah refers to sacrificing a specific animal with specific conditions on the seventh day after the birth of a boy or girl. It is a sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, practiced throughout history by the lovers of Sunnah.
❖ Scholarly Opinions
◈ Ibn Qudāmah (d. 620H):
((العقيقة سنة فى قول عامة أهل العلم))
“ʿAqīqah is a Sunnah according to the majority of scholars.”
— al-Mughnī 9/459
◈ Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751H):
“All the muḥaddithūn, jurists, and the majority of scholars said that it is from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”
— Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd, p. 38
❖ Evidence from Hadith
✔ Salman ibn ʿĀmir (RA):
((مع الغلام عقيقة، فأهريقوا عنه دما، وأميطوا عنه الأذى))
“Every child has an ʿAqīqah. Shed blood on his behalf and remove harm (shave his head).”
— Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5471
✔ Samurah ibn Jundub (RA):
((كل غلام مرتهن بعقيقته، يذبح عنه يوم السابع، ويحلق رأسه ويسمى))
“Every child is in pledge for his ʿAqīqah, it should be sacrificed on the seventh day, his head shaved, and he should be named.”
— Musnad Aḥmad 7/5, Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2838, Sunan al-Tirmidhī 1522, Sunan al-Nasāʾī 4220, Ibn Mājah 3165 – ḥadīth ṣaḥīḥ
✔ ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (RA):
When asked about ʿAqīqah, the Prophet ﷺ replied:
((عن الغلام شاتان مكافئتان، وعن الجارية شاة))
“For a boy two similar sheep, and for a girl one sheep.”
— Musnad Aḥmad 2/182, Abī Dāwūd 2842, al-Nasāʾī 4212 – ḥadīth ḥasan
❖ Hanafi Position
Some Ḥanafī scholars considered ʿAqīqah merely permissible (mubāḥ) and not Sunnah.
— al-Tajrīd lil-Qudūrī 12/6356
❖ Clarification
Al-Baghawī (d. 510H) explained that when the Prophet ﷺ disliked the term “ʿAqīqah,” it was due to his habit of changing unpleasant names to better ones. He preferred calling it nasīkah or dhabīḥah instead, without diminishing its importance.
— Sharḥ al-Sunnah 11/264
✅ Conclusion
- ʿAqīqah is a proven Sunnah according to the majority of scholars and hadith evidence.
- On the 7th day: sacrifice, shave the head, and name the child.
- For a boy: two sheep; for a girl: one sheep.
- Not performing ʿAqīqah does not invalidate anything, but it means missing a Sunnah act.
