What is the ruling on the aqiqa?

Ibn Rushd opens the book of the aqiqa in Bidayat al-Mujtahid by saying that a comprehensive account of its principles falls into six chapters: its ruling, the animal, for whom it is offered and how many, the time of this rite, the animal's age and description, and the ruling on its meat and other parts. ¹ The first is its ruling, on which there are three views. ¹

• A sunna: the view of the majority. ¹ The editor of the Ibn Wanis edition documents this from the Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali manuals. ¹
• Obligatory: the view of a group including the Zahiris. ¹ The editor quotes Ibn Hazm in al-Muhalla: the aqiqa is a binding duty to which a person is compelled if he has its price beyond his sustenance. ¹
• Neither obligatory nor a sunna: the view of Abu Hanifa as Ibn Rushd reports it; it is also said that his position amounts to its being voluntary. ^{1 2}

Ibn Rushd traces the disagreement to conflicting understandings of the reports: the hadith of Samura, "every boy is in pledge for his aqiqa, slaughtered for him on his seventh day, and the harm removed from him", on its face requires obligation; while his saying, when asked about the aqiqa, "I do not like uquq; whoever has a child born and wishes to offer a sacrifice for the child, let him do so", on its face indicates recommendation or permission. ² Whoever read recommendation in it said the aqiqa is a sunna; whoever read permission said it is neither sunna nor obligatory; and whoever took Samura's hadith made it obligatory; he notes that Abu Dawud records both hadiths. ²

• The animal: the majority hold that only the eight kinds of livestock allowed for the sacrifice are allowed for the aqiqa; Malik preferred sheep, as in his view on sacrifice, and his view on camels and cattle varied, while the other jurists hold camels best, then cattle, then sheep; the disagreement arises from the report that he offered a ram each for al-Hasan and al-Husayn, set against analogy with the hady offerings. ^{2 3}
• For whom: the majority hold it is offered only for young children, boy or girl; al-Hasan stood alone in saying none is offered for a girl; some allowed it for an adult on the basis of a report from Anas, which the editor notes Ibn Hajar judged weak. ^{4 5}
• How many: Malik said one sheep each for a boy and a girl; al-Shafi'i, Abu Thawr, Dawud and Ahmad said one sheep for a girl and two for a boy, because the reports differ, among them the hadith of Umm Kurz al-Ka'biyya. ⁵

Ibn Hazm opens the Book of the Aqiqa in al-Muhalla by calling it a binding obligation, enforced on anyone who has its cost beyond his food: for every child born, alive or stillborn, two sheep for a boy and one for a girl, slaughtered on the seventh day after birth, not before; if not done that day it is still owed whenever possible, and the day of birth counts among the seven. ⁶ Only what is called a sheep or goat counts, not camels or cattle; a defective animal counts though a sound one is better; the child's head is shaved on the seventh day; free and slave, believer and unbeliever are alike; the cost falls on the father, or the mother, or on the child if he has property; and if the child dies before the seventh day the aqiqa is still offered. ⁷

He argues from Salman ibn 'Amir al-Dabbi's report, "With a boy there is an aqiqa, so shed blood for him and remove harm from him"; Umm Kurz al-Khuza'iyya's, "For a boy two equal sheep and for a girl one"; and Samura ibn Jundab's, "Every boy is pledged by his aqiqa, slaughtered on his seventh day, his head shaved and he is named", adding that al-Hasan al-Basri is soundly reported to have heard nothing from Samura except this hadith on the aqiqa. ^{7 8 9 10} He relates from 'A'isha, through Hafsa bint 'Abd al-Rahman: two sheep are due for a boy and one for a girl. ¹⁰

He answers those who do not hold it obligatory: the report from Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali that the sacrifice of the Feast abrogated every earlier slaughter is a Successor's word, which cannot establish abrogation; the hadith "I do not like 'uquq; whoever has a child and wishes to sacrifice for it, let him do so" comes from an unidentified man. He reports that al-Nakha'i and al-Shafi'i said it is not obligatory, arguing from 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb's report from his father from his grandfather, and replies that, if sound, it would support him, since it places the aqiqa on the boy and the girl and binds the father only if he wishes, like zakat and the alms of the fast-breaking. ^{11 12} He says Abu Hanifa did not know the aqiqa. ¹³ He reports that Malik said it is not obligatory and is one sheep for boy and girl alike, slaughtered on the seventh day not counting the day of birth, or else on the second seventh day and not after, and says he knows no earlier authority for Malik's not counting the day of birth or for limiting it to the second seventh day. ¹² He accepts the reports of Ibn 'Abbas and Anas that the Prophet ﷺ offered a ram for al-Hasan and a ram for al-Husayn, but holds that Umm Kurz's report adds to them, and an addition from a trustworthy transmitter may not be set aside. ¹⁴

The chapters on the time, the age of the animal and the ruling on the meat were not read here.