Can ʿAqīqah Be Performed After the Seventh Day?
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
Ruling on Delayed ʿAqīqah
ʿAqīqah may be performed even after the seventh day, even if the child has reached adulthood, because the child remains in pledge until ʿAqīqah is done, and it can only be released through ʿAqīqah.
There is also a narration that indicates ʿAqīqah may be performed on the fourteenth or twenty-first day. As the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
تذبح لسبع أولا ربع عشرة أولإ حدى وعشرين
“The ʿAqīqah is to be performed on the seventh day, or the fourteenth day, or the twenty-first day.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr: 4011]
Saudi Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta:
Yes, ʿAqīqah after the seventh day is valid, but delaying it beyond the seventh day is contrary to Sunnah. Every boy or girl who passes away in childhood will be a means of benefit for their believing parents who showed patience.
[Fatāwā Islāmiyyah: 2/325]
In another fatwa, the wording is: “If the seventh day passes and ʿAqīqah is not performed, then according to some jurists, it is no longer Sunnah afterward, since the Prophet ﷺ fixed the seventh day for it. However, the Ḥanābilah and a group of jurists held the opinion that it is still Sunnah to perform ʿAqīqah even after the seventh day — whether after a month, a year, or even longer.”
[Fatāwā Islāmiyyah: 2/326] ✅
