401: Dear Br. Omar: As-Salaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuhu. We really apologize for the delay in answering your question. We got really backlogged during the month of Ramadan due to overwhelming amount of questions. In order to deal with the situation, we currently have a qualified team of Muslim scholars and specialists working to answer your questions. Soon, by the grace of Allah, we will be cutting the answering time to the minimum. Regarding your question, first of all, I hope the answer is not too late if you already had a baby. If so, congratulation. Aqiqa is the animal that is slaughtered when a new baby is born as a sign of gratefulness to Allah Almighty. The slaughter has to meet certain conditions and the person sponsoring the aqiqa has to have the intention of doing it knowing that it is a sign of thanking Allah (not to show his generosity to other people or anything else). As to its existence in authentic sources, it is mentioned in the Hadith of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when he said: each (newborn) child is a RAHINA to his Aqiqa, it is slaughtered on his behalf on the seventh (day of his birth), then he/she is shaved (hair is shaved) and given a name . In this context, RAHINA means that the baby will not grow up like other ones until someone slaughters an animal on his behalf. It is important to mention that Aqiqa is a Sunna, which means it is recommended but NOT required. As to the other question, prophet Muhammad (pbuh) migrated from Macca to Madina in the month of Rabih Awwal, the third month of the lunar year. Ramadan Mubarak, and thank you for asking. (Source: IslamiCity) Classified in Aqiqa, The month prophet Muhammad (pbuh) migrated >