Asma’ daughter of Abu Bakr said she conceived ‘Abdallah b. azZubair in Mecca and gave birth to him in Quba’, then took him to God’s messenger and placed him in his lap. He called for a date, chewed it and spat in his mouth, after which he rubbed his palate and then made supplication for him and invoked a blessing on him. He was the first child to be born in the Islamic period.
‘A’isha told that boys used to be brought to God’s messenger, and he would invoke blessings on them and soften some dates and rub their palates with them.
Umm Kurz told that she heard God’s messenger say, “Let the birds stay in their roosts.”* She told that she also heard him say, “Two sheep are to be sacrificed for a boy and one for a girl, but it does you no harm whether they are male or female.”
*Either that they are not to be molested, or that they are not to be disturbed for the purpose of taking omens.
Abu Dawud transmitted it. Tirmidhi and Nasa’i transmit it from “two sheep” to the end, Tirmidhi saying this is a sahih tradition.
Salman b. ‘Amir ad Dabbl told that he heard God's messenger say, “Along with a boy there is an ‘aqiqa, so shed blood on his behalf and remove injury from him.”*
*This is variously explained as shaving the hair of the infant, or removing the impurities with which it is defiled at birth, or even circumcision.
