When to Delay `Aqiqah: Legitimate Reasons?

Salaamun 'alaykum wa rahmat-ul-lahi wa barakātuh

When to Delay `Aqiqah: Legitimate Reasons?

_In the name of Allaah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allaah (ﷺ) ._

There is nothing to say that the `Aqiqah should not be delayed if there is a reason to delay it or if doing so will achieve a better purpose, and so on.

_🎙️Shaykh Salih Al-Fawzan (may Allah preserve him) was asked:_

If I am in my city and Allah blessed me with a baby boy or girl, but I will not be able to go back to my husband in the other city where he lives until after a month or more, do I have to do the `Aqiqah on the seventh or fourteenth or twenty-first day as mentioned in the Hadith of `Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), or is it permissible for me to delay it until I go back to my husband and do it when I am with him?

🎙️He replied:

*There is nothing to say that slaughtering of the `Aqiqah cannot be delayed until a time that is more suitable and easier for the parents or for one of them. Rather slaughtering it on the seventh or twenty-first day is recommended if that is possible. But if it is not possible then there is nothing wrong with delaying it until another time, according to what they are able to do. It should be noted that slaughtering the `Aqiqah should be done by the father of the child and it is one of the rights that the child has over his father."* 📚 (End quote from Al-Muntaqa min Fatawa Al-Fawzan, 84/5)

*Appointing Others to Perform Aqiqah on Time.*

If you are able to appoint someone among your family or acquaintances to slaughter the `Aqiqah on time, this is better and is preferable to delaying it until the time of your arrival.

But if that is too difficult for you or you do not have enough money to do that, or you do not have anyone who can do that on your behalf, then as stated above there is nothing wrong with delaying it, especially if there is a reason preventing you from slaughtering it on time.

And Allah knows best.

*May Allaah accept our ibaadat and forgive our shortcomings.*

_❞Keep Reminding, for Indeed the ʀᴇᴍɪɴᴅᴇʀ ʙᴇɴᴇꜰɪᴛs ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇʀ ❝_

*Allaahu l-Musta'aan*