How should we say it? He said: Say: May there be blessing in the gift, may you be grateful to the Giver, may he reach his maturity, and may you be granted his righteousness. It was narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would perform tahnik (rubbing the palate with a date) for the children of the Ansar with dates (13). Anas narrated, saying: I took Abd Allah ibn Abi Talha to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when he was born. He said: "Do you have any dates?" I handed him some dates, and he chewed them, then opened his mouth, spat them into it, and he began to suck on them. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The love (14) of the Ansar for dates." And he named him Abd Allah (15).
Section: Our companions said: Neither the fara'ah (the firstborn animal of a camel) nor the 'atirah (a sacrifice in the month of Rajab) is recommended. This is the opinion of the scholars of the major cities, except for Ibn Sirin, for he used to slaughter the 'atirah in Rajab and narrated something regarding it. The fara'ah and the fara'—with a fatha on the ra'—is the first offspring of a she-camel. They used to slaughter it for their idols during the Jahiliyyah, so they were forbidden from it. Abu Amr al-Shaybani said this. Abu Ubayd said: The 'atirah is the rajabiyyah (the Rajab sacrifice). The people of the Jahiliyyah, when one of them sought something, would vow to slaughter a sheep from his flock in Rajab, and these are the 'ata'ir. The correct view, if Allah the Exalted wills, is that they used to slaughter them in Rajab without a vow; they made it a sunnah among themselves, like the udhiyah on the Day of Sacrifice. Among them were also those who would vow it, just as the udhiyah is vowed, evidenced by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "For every household there is a sacrifice (udhiyah) and an 'atirah" (16). This which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said at the beginning of Islam was a confirmation of what existed during the Jahiliyyah, and it necessitates its validity without a vow, then it was abrogated afterward. Also, because if the 'atirah were only the vowed animal, it would not have been abrogated, for if a person were to vow to slaughter a sheep at any time, he would be obligated to fulfill his vow. And Allah knows best. It was narrated from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that she said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded us...
(13) Tahnik of children with dates was recorded by Muslim, in: Chapter on the ruling regarding the urine of a nursing infant..., from the Book of Purification. Sahih Muslim 1/237. Abu Dawud, in: Chapter on the child who is born and the adhan is called in his ear, from the Book of Etiquette. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/622. And Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 6/212. See: the subsequent hadith of Anas. (14) Al-Nawawi said: It was narrated with both the damma and the kasra on the ha'. The kasra signifies 'beloved' (mahbub), and on this reading, the ba' is in the nominative case (marfu'). As for one who gives it a damma, it is a verbal noun (masdar), and regarding the ba', there are two views: the accusative (nasb), which is the most famous, and the nominative (raf'). Whoever reads it in the accusative, the estimation is: 'Observe the love of the Ansar for dates,' so 'dates' (al-tamr) is also in the accusative. Whoever reads it in the nominative says: It is a subject with a deleted predicate, meaning: 'The love of the Ansar for dates is necessary.' Sharh al-Nawawi li-Muslim 14/133. (15) Its takhrij (citation) was previously mentioned on page 397. (16) Its takhrij was previously mentioned on page 361.
