Does he have to offer ‘aqeeqah on behalf of himself and his children after becoming Muslim?

Question: 201479

There is a man who was not Muslim, and he had a number of children, then he became Muslim and he thinks that ‘aqeeqah is obligatory for him. Some brothers told him: You have to sacrifice one ‘aqeeqah on behalf of each one of them, because this duty is not waived until after he sacrifices them, even if he was not Muslim at that time.

It is well known that prayers before he became Muslim are waived in his case, doesn’t that also apply to the ‘aqeeqah?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Firstly:

Offering the ‘aqeeqah is a confirmed Sunnah (Sunnah
mu’akkadah) and is not obligatory, according to the more correct scholarly
opinion. Two sheep are to be offered on behalf of a boy and one sheep on
behalf of a girl.

Whoever does that has done well, and whoever does not do it
has omitted to do a confirmed Sunnah, but there is no sin on him.

See the answer to question no. 20018.

Secondly:

If a child grows up and his father did not offer the ‘aqeeqah
on his behalf, then he wants to offer it on his own behalf after he has
grown up, there is nothing wrong with that, even though the preferred time
for it has passed. Missing out on the preferred time does not mean that he
has to miss out on it completely, especially when he has an excuse.

The scholars of the Standing Committee said:

If the seventh day has passed and he did not offer ‘aqeeqah
on his child’s behalf, then some of the fuqaha’ are of the view that it is
not Sunnah to offer ‘aqeeqah on the child’s behalf after that, because the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) defined its time as being
the seventh day. However the Hanbalis and a number of the fuqaha’ are of the
view that it is Sunnah to offer the ‘aqeeqah even a month or a year or more
after the child’s birth, because of the general meaning of the proven hadith,
and this is more prudent.

End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (11/447).

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (may Allah preserve him) was asked:

If a man was blessed with children and he did not offer
‘aqeeqah on their behalf until they reached an age of more than four years,
is it permissible for him to offer ‘aqeeqah on their behalf after that age?

He replied:

There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with
offering the ‘aqeeqah on their behalf even if they have passed the age of
four years, although it would have been better to hasten to do it. But if it
is delayed, there is no reason not to do it. He may offer it whenever it is
easy for him to do that.

End quote from Majmoo‘ Fataawa ash-Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan
(2/572)

There is also nothing wrong with a man offering ‘aqeeqah on
his own behalf, if his father did not do so, and this will benefit him, in
sha Allah.

See the answer to question no. 96462.

Thirdly:

If a man becomes Muslim, there is nothing wrong with him
offering ‘aqeeqah on his own behalf, if he wants to, and on behalf of his
children if he is able to do so, except on behalf of a son who is a
disbeliever, because the wisdom behind it is to seek the well-being of the
child and to ransom him and save him from the Shaytaan and protect him
against him, and this is not applicable in the case of a disbeliever.

See the answer to question no. 12448.

But he does not have to do any of that, as explained above.

But according to the more correct view, which is the view
that we favour, offering the ‘aqeeqah is not obligatory in the first place,
and this is quite clear.

If we assume that offering the ‘aqeeqah is obligatory, people
entered the religion of Allah at the time of the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him), and it is not known that they offered the
‘aqeeqah on behalf of themselves or their children. We are certain that the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not instruct them to
make up any of that at all. He did not instruct them to offer ‘aqeeqah on
behalf of themselves or on behalf of the children. If any such thing had
happened, it would have been narrated.

This indicates either that ‘aqeeqah is not obligatory in the
first place, or that it is obligatory, but it is waived if the person in
question was not a Muslim (who is accountable) at the time when it was
obligatory, or it was waived because the time for it had passed, like many
other acts of worship that are restricted to certain times, as was the view
of more than one of the scholars.

And Allah knows best.

Source:

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