The Aqiqah
March 25, 2007 |01:30 | The Circle of Life By : Zeenia Shah
Babies born in Muslim households receive their first lesson in the faith shortly after birth. The father or some other male relation recites the ‘azan’ into the child’s right ear. The azan is a call to Muslims to follow the path of righteousness. This is followed by the recitation of the ‘kalima’ which declares the sovereignty of Allah and of his messenger Muhammad.
Seven days after the birth the Aqiqa ceremony takes place. The child is officially named and his head is shaved of the prenatal hair. A sacrificial animal, mostly a goat, is slaughtered and the meat distributed to family members and the poor. In traditional families the shorn hair of the child is weighed and an equivalent weight of a precious metal is donated to charity. Wealthier families may give gold while middle class families choose to donate silver.
1 Comments
muslim
April 30, 2007 |09:27
shaving off babs heads hair horrendous
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