Can a Person Perform ʿAqīqah for Himself?
Author: Imran Ayub Lahori
Ruling on Self-Performed ʿAqīqah
If a person’s parents, due to ignorance of the rulings, poverty, or any other reason, could not perform his ʿAqīqah during their lifetime, then he himself may perform his own ʿAqīqah. This is because a child is held in pledge for his ʿAqīqah, as mentioned in the authentic Hadith:
“Every child is held in pledge for his ʿAqīqah.”
Therefore, to free oneself from this pledge, one should perform ʿAqīqah. والله أعلم
ʿAṭāʾ (رحمه الله) and Imām al-Ḥasan (رحمه الله):
A person may perform ʿAqīqah on his own behalf because it is legislated for him, and since he is held in pledge for it, it is appropriate that he free himself from it.
However, the Ḥanābilah opposed this view because Imām Aḥmad (رحمه الله) issued a fatwa that:
ذلك على الوالد
“This (ʿAqīqah) is the responsibility of the father.”
[Al-Mughnī: 13/397]
Imām al-Shāfiʿī (رحمه الله):
If ʿAqīqah is delayed until the child reaches puberty, then the obligation of the guardian to perform it drops. But if the person himself wishes to perform ʿAqīqah for himself, then he may do so.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/500]
