Aqiqah

The sacrifice offered in gratitude for the birth of a child, from the confirmed Sunnah: 'Every child is in pledge for its aqiqah - it is sacrificed for him on his seventh day, his head is shaved, and he is given a name' (Sunan Abi Dawud 2838). Two comparable sheep are offered for a boy and one for a girl (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1513), with one sufficing for a boy where means are limited (Sunan Abi Dawud 2841).

The majority of scholars classify the aqiqah as a strongly emphasized Sunnah rather than an obligation; it remains valid if performed late, and the meat is eaten, gifted, and shared with the poor. The new-child milestone is also when Muslim parents typically name guardians in their wills and begin halal education savings.

Aqiqah is the birth celebration sacrifice - traditionally two sheep for a boy and one for a girl, slaughtered on the seventh day after birth, with the meat shared among family, friends, and the poor, alongside naming the child and shaving the newborn's hair (giving the hair's weight in silver as charity). The basis is the hadith 'every child is held in pledge for its aqiqah, sacrificed on the seventh day' (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi); the majority classify it as strongly recommended (sunnah mu'akkadah) rather than obligatory, falling on the parent responsible for the child's maintenance.

Timing flexibility is broad in practice: if the seventh day passes, scholars permit performing it on the fourteenth, twenty-first, or whenever ability arrives - some even perform their own aqiqah as adults when parents never did. For American Muslim families the practical questions are budgetary and logistical, which is why aqiqah belongs in new-baby financial planning alongside the birth certificate and a halal education-savings account: costs run from a few hundred dollars using overseas sacrifice services (many U.S. Islamic charities perform aqiqah abroad and distribute meat to the poor, often $150-$400 per animal) to more for a local halal slaughter and community walima-style gathering.

Either mode satisfies the Sunnah in mainstream views, though sharing meat within one's own community carries its own virtue. It is a one-time obligation per child - a bounded, plannable expense, not a recurring one.