In Sumatra, we are told "The Mohammedan law recommends an offering of two sheep or goats for a male, and one for a female child, by preference on the seventh day after birth, but if this be impossible then at some later date, even when the child is quite grown up." This sacrifice is called 'aqiqa and is not only known but is actually practiced in Acheh under the name of hakikah. In Acheh, no less than in other parts of the E. Indian archipelago, the people of Mekka have done their best to foster the doctrine that it is an extremely meritorious act to offer this sacrifice for the child in the holy city. The Mekka folk thus of course reap the profits on the sale of the goats and at the same time enjoy their share of the meat. Many Achenese are, however, aware that the hakikah is more properly offered at home. The choice of some later occasion for this sacrifice, and not the seventh day after birth is also common in Acheh.

The ceremony is performed among the Malays as follows: "A few days later the child's head is shaved, and his nails cut for the first time. For the former process a red lather is manufactured from fine rice-flour mixed with gambier, lime, and betel-leaf. Some people have the child's head shaved clean, others leave the central lock (jambul). In either case the remains of the red lather, together with the clippings of hair (and nails?) are received in a rolled-up yam-leaf (daun k'ladi diponjut) or cocoa-nut (?) and carried away and deposited at the foot of a shady tree, such as a banana (or a pomegranate?).

"Some times (as had been done in the case of a Malay bride at whose tonsure' I assisted), the parents make a vow at a child's birth that they will give a feast at the tonsure of its hair, just before its marriage, provided the child grows up in safety.

Occasionally the ceremony of shaving the child's head takes place on the 44th day after birth, the ceremony being

called balik juru. A small sum, such as $2.00 or $3.00, is also sometimes presented to a pilgrim to carry clippings of the child's locks to Mecca and cast them into the well Zemzem, such payment being called 'kekah ('aqiqa) in the case of a boy and kurban in the case of a girl." 3

The custom prevails also in China, although so much else of the Moslem ritual has there been modified or suppressed. A Koranic name, called King-ming, is given to the child within seven days of its birth, and a feast is celebrated. "The rich are expected to kill a sheep, two if the child is a male, and the poor are to be fed with the meat. In selecting the name the father has to hold the child with its face turned towards Mecca and repeat a prayer in each ear of the child. Then taking the Koran he turns over any seven pages, and from the seventh word of the seventh line of the seventh page gives the name.” (Marshall Broomhall, “Islam in China.”) Here as elsewhere the naming of the child and the 'Aqiqa are closely related.

In Mecca, on the seventh day after the birth of a child, a wether is usually killed. According to Snouck Hurgronje, the people there do not connect this with the 'Aqiqa ceremony which may take place later. For the rest the ceremonies are observed by the calling of God's name in the right ear of the infant and giving the call to prayer in its left ear. A short Khutbah is given at the naming of the child and a present of silver given to the poor. On the fortieth day the infant is dressed in beautiful clothes, generally of silk, and handed at sunset by the mother to one of the eunuch guardians of the Ka'aba who lays it down near the door of the Ka'aba. For ten minutes the child remains under the protection of the shadow of the Ka'aba. Then the mother performs the evening prayer and carries the infant home.

In the Punjab, according to Major W. Fitz G. Bourne, the * Skeat's “Malay Magic,” pp. 341–342.

ceremony is universal. He writes: On the sixth day after birth, the mother is bathed, all the women of the family assemble, and a feast takes place, called 'Chhati.' On the seventh day both male and female relations are invited, and a great feast takes place. The child's head is shaved, and the hair weighed against silver, which is given to the poor. The barber places a small brass cup before the assembly, into which all present put silver. A sacrifice of one or two hegoats in the case of a male child, and of a she-goat in the case of a female child, is made. This ceremony is called Aqiqa' and is solemnized by repeating a given prayer in Arabic."

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In regard to Malaysia and especially Celebes, we have interesting information about the practice prevalent among Bare'e-speaking Toradja's, by Dr. N. Adriani and the Rev. A. D. Kruijt. They say, "The Mohammedans on the south coast believe that when a child dies before its third year has no sins, and therefore, its soul is taken directly to Allah. After the third year, however, a sacrifice is required, for a boy two goats, for a girl one. This sacrifice is called the Mosambale, or 'Aqiqa. The time differs, and is chiefly dependent on the prosperity of the family. If there is, however, a death in the family or the child is ill, no effort is spared to secure the necessary sacrifice. The father himself must slay the goat. If the father has died before the 'Aqiqa ceremony, then a portion of the father's personal possessions must be used to purchase the 'Aqiqa sacrifice; for example, a piece of his clothing or outfit. When the sacrifice takes place the father says 'bis millah,' etc. (I sacrifice the 'Aqiqa of so-and-so, who is the child of so-and-so. .) The popular opinion is that when the child dies afterwards it rides the goat which has been sacrified for it in order to welcome its father in the other world. On the presentation of 4 This is also the custom in Egypt.

this sacrifice, they assert, that the future character of the child is dependent for good or for ill. The child whose morals are corrupt is described as one for whom no proper 'aqiqa offering has been made. Possibly this representation rests on a curious misunderstanding of the Arabic word 'aqiqa and the other Arabic word haqiqa, which means 'reality,' so that the people imagine that the two words are closely related."

In Afghanistan the practice is well-known; and in addition to that of the 'Aqiqa we learn of other vicarious sacrifices that are prevalent. Dr. Pennell says, "All Muhammadan nations must, from the origin of their religion, have many customs and observances which appear Jewish, because they were adopted by Muhammed himself from the Jews around him; but there are two, at least, met with among Afghans which are not found among neighboring Muhammadan peoples, and which strongly suggest a Jewish origin. The first, which is very common, is that of sacrificing an animal, usually a sheep or a goat, in case of illness, after which the blood of the animal is sprinkled over the doorposts of the house of the sick person, by means of which the angel of death is warded off. The other, which is much less common, and appears to be dying out, is that of taking a heifer and placing upon it the sins of the people, whereby it becomes qurban, or sacrifice, and then it is driven out into the wilderness."

All this testimony from many Moslem lands concerning the prevalence of a practice which is based upon the highest authority, namely, Sunna, is of course deeply interesting to the student of comparative religion; and for the theories on the subject, some of which are fanciful in the extreme, the reader is referred to such authorities as Frazer in his "Golden Bough" or the special treatise of Prof. G. A. Wilkens, Ueber das Haaropfer." Perhaps the best explanation of the origin of this sacrifice from the standpoint of comparative

religion is that given by W. Robertson Smith in his book, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia." He says, "Shaving or polling the hair was an act of worship commonly performed when a man visited a holy place or on discharging a vow (as in the ritual of the Hebrew Nazarites). At Taif, when a man returned from a journey, his first duty was to visit the Rabba and poll his hair. The hair in these cases was an offering to the deity, and as such was sometimes mingled with a meal offering. So it must have been also with the hair of the babe, for Mohammed's daughter Fatima gave the example of bestowing in alms the weight of the hair in silver. The alms must in older times have been a payment to the sanctuary, as in the similar ceremony observed in Egypt on behalf of children recovered from sickness; and the sacrifice is meant, as the Prophet himself says, 'to avert evil from the child by shedding blood on his behalf.' This is more exactly brought out in the old usage-discontinued in Moslem times of daubing the child's head with blood, which is the same thing with the sprinkling of the 'living blood' of a victim on the tents of an army going out to battle, or the sprinkling of the blood on the doorposts at the Hebrew passover. The blood which ensures protection by the god is, as in ritual of blood-brotherhood, blood that unites protector and protected, and in this, as in all other ancient Arabian sacrifices, was doubtless applied also to the sacred stone that represented the deity. The prophet offered a sheep indifferently for the birth of a boy or a girl, but in earlier times the sacrifice seems to have been only for boys. Some authorities say that the ceremony fell on the seventh day after birth, but this is hardly correct; for when there was no 'aqiqa offered the child was named and its gums rubbed with masticated dates on the morning after birth. The Arabs were accustomed to hide a new-born child under a cauldron till the morning 5 Compare the Tradition already cited.

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