Not Offering Aqeeqah for Children Until They Grew Up: OK?

07 November, 2018
Q If a man is blessed with children and did not offer aqeeqah for them until they were more than four years old, is it permissible for him to offer aqeeqah for them after this age? If that is the case, then is it permissible for him to slaughter the aqeeqah for them outside of the city where they were born? Because in the city where he lives there are no poor people who need meat, but there is a village far away from the place where they were born in which there are people who are deserving of charity. Is it permissible to slaughter the aqeeqah there and give the meat to those people?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.


In this fatwa:

There is nothing wrong with slaughtering the aqeeqah on behalf of the children even if they have passed the age of four years, although it would have been better to hasten to do it.


Answering your question, the Fatwa Center at Islam Q and A, states:

There is nothing wrong with slaughtering the aqeeqah on behalf of the children even if they have passed the age of four years, although it would have been better to hasten to do it.

But if the aqeeqah has been delayed, then there is nothing wrong with doing offering it later. He may slaughter it whenever he can afford to do that.

With regard to where the aqeeqah is slaughtered, there is no specific place for that; rather it is permissible to slaughter it in the city where they were born, or elsewhere, because it is an act of worship for which no place is specified.

With regard to eating the meat, the aqeeqah comes under the same ruling as the udhiyah (sacrifice); it is mustahabb for the one who offers it to eat from it himself, to give some in charity, and to give some as gifts to his neighbors and friends. (Majmu` Fatawa Ash-Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, 2:572)

Almighty Allah knows best.

Source: www.islamqa.info