Lesson 4 of 6 · Give the loss a place
A name is not a coping strategy someone invented
In the earliest practice around a newborn, the naming is embedded from the start. Abu Dawud carries the report on the aqiqah in two wordings, and appends his own note that the wording in which the child is given a name is the sounder of the two, against the wording about smearing the head with blood. The naming is not a later softening of the practice. It is the transmission the collector himself preferred.
And the instruction that the prayer is offered over a miscarried child, with forgiveness and mercy asked for the parents, treats the child as somebody rather than as an event. So does the report that the child is prayed over, which is one of the two sound reports lesson three showed pointing opposite ways. Take it here as evidence that the practice exists, not as a settlement of the disagreement.
None of that settles the rulings in your school, and lesson three said where those differ. But it settles something else. A parent who names a child that nobody else met is not inventing a private ritual to feel better. They are doing something the tradition has always done.
Qur’an and Sunnah
In the earliest practice around a newborn the naming is embedded from the start, and Abu Dawud appends his own note that the wording in which the child is given a name is the sounder of the two. The naming is not a later softening. It is the transmission the collector himself preferred.
Narrated Samurah ibn Jundub: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: A boy is in pledge for his Aqiqah, Sacrifice is made for him on the seventh day, his head is shaved and he is given name. Abu Dawud said: The word wa yusamma is sounder as narrated by Salam b. Abi Muti' from Qatadah, and narrated by Iyas b. Daghfal and Ash'ath from al-Hassan who narrated wa yusamma (and he is given a name)
Sunan Abi Dawud 2838graded sound, albanithe Arabic and its grading
And the instruction that the prayer is offered over a miscarried child, with forgiveness and mercy asked for the parents. That treats the child as somebody rather than as an event.
Narrated Al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah: (I think that the people of Ziyad informed me that he reported on the authority of the Prophet (ﷺ): A rider should go behind the bier, and those on foot should walk behind it, in front of it, on its right and on its left keeping near it. Prayer should be offered over an abortion and forgiveness and mercy supplicated for its parents
Sunan Abi Dawud 3180graded sound, albanithe Arabic and its grading
The report that the child is prayed over, one of the two sound reports lesson three shows pointing opposite ways. Take it here as evidence that the practice exists, not as a settlement of the disagreement.
Al-Mughirah bin Shu'bah narrated that:The Prophet said: "The rider is to be behind the funeral (procession), and the walker where he wishes, and the child should be prayed over
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1031graded sound, albanithe Arabic and its grading