Islam Blog

Salaamualaykum,

Dear Readers,

Two months ago, Allah blessed us with a baby boy. We’ve named him Mus’ab after the great Sahabi Mus’ab bin Umair (May Allah be pleased with him). Fatherhood is an amazing experience. The most heartening thing is that Alhamdulillah, with every birth we are adding to the number of Muslims. (Though unfortunately some may disagree to this idea).

Nevertheless, the idea of writing this post is to explain to everyone the things one should do when welcoming a new baby. Sadly, we find that many rituals are practiced and somewhere in the middle of all this excitement the Sunnah is lost. If you want your child to be a good Muslim, then what better way than to start on a sound footing? I won’t go in to the length of everything but only highlight what should be done.

• Proclaiming the Adhaan or call to prayer in the baby’s right ear. Some people also recite the iqamah in the left ear and this is NOT established. We should be content with what the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) gave us. This ensures that one of the first things a child hears is the name of Allah and the call of Tawheed.
• Making the baby taste some honey or a small piece of date chewed out to make it soft. This is called Tahneek. We shouldn’t go overboard in this. A very small amount is sufficient. Your baby is a very tiny thing and it’s stomach is even tinier. Just a little bigger than its own fist. So it doesn’t hurt to be careful.
• Naming the child on the first or seventh day. Any other day is fine also.

• It was reported that Anas ibn Maalik said: the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “A boy was born to me this night and I have named him with the name of my father Ibraaheem.” (Narrated by Muslim, 3126).

• The Aqeeqah - this can be done on the seventh day, following the Sunnah. However, for practical reasons, if this becomes difficult, it can be done any time it is convenient. Some of things that can be done are Shaving the child’s head, applying saffron, and slaughtering two goats if its a boy and one if its a girl. The meat can be consumed by the family, or distributed amongst relatives, or given as charity to the poor. There is no set procedure for this. An additional thing to remember is to give in charity, gold or silver equal to the weight of the hair.
• Circumcision for boys. This is wajib or compulsory. There is no set time for this, but ideally it is better to do it sooner than later. Infants have absolutely no memory, so this eases the trauma for them. They will feel pain, but it will subside in a few days. The best time to do it is before the child starts to turn on its own. This way it won’t hurt itself and drag the healing process longer. If this is delayed, it can be a little humiliating for the child and the memory of this can never be a pleasant one.

I hope this post was beneficial and helps people avoid any wrong and innovated actions when welcoming a new child.

Abu Mus’ab