Fatima Barkatulla – Is It Okay to Have a Baby Shower

			She was asking, Is it okay? To do a baby shower? Right? So basically a party
		

			for anticipating the birth of her baby? Is it okay to have some kind of party, you know, gather her
friends and celebrate, you know, they'll probably bring gifts for the baby, for the mother. And
that's, it's like a western tradition if you like, right? Is there anything wrong with us doing
that? And the answer to that is that, you know, when it comes to personal celebrations like that,
that are not related to religion, okay? They don't have a religious history, they don't have a
religious significance, right? They're not kind of Christian, or Jewish or any other religious kind
of festival or linked to that at all right?
		

			Then, those kinds of personal celebrations, they're fine. You know, it's fine for a person to
		

			have a party for any reason, right for any reason that they want to celebrate something.
		

			So there shouldn't be any issue with having a party for that. However, I would actually encourage
brothers and sisters instead of having a baby shower to have an Akiko after the baby is born, right
to instead put your energy into preparing for some kind of party to have after the baby is born.
When you're having the Akiko, which is, you know, where we sacrifice an animal and we distribute the
meat to sheep for a boy, one for a girl. And we can invite all our relatives, our friends, on that
occasion, because that is the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam right?
		

			I would actually encourage us instead to do that. And there's a number of reasons for that. First of
all, you know, obviously, it's the Sunnah. That's the actual prescribed way of kind of welcoming a
child and it's a nice opportunity to distribute the meet again, the reward for that, you know, the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Every child is ransomed by their Akiko, right.
		

			So it is something that it has that significance. But the other reason is, brothers and sisters that
I've actually known of people who had a baby shower, which is before the baby is born, her party,
people brought so many gifts, anticipating that it was going to be a girl, for example. And, you
know, very kind of girls, baby girl gifts and all sorts of things. And then sadly, the baby passed
away during labor, right? So the baby was still born. And then of course, that couple ends up having
a house full of baby gifts that they've had from before that now sadly, they they can't use and also
is a constant reminder to them of their loss.
		

			So I think, you know, instead of having some kind of potty before the baby is born, I think there's
great wisdom in having it after the baby is born. And Allah Subhana Allah knows best. And of course,
pika is a sunnah, which is the best thing that we could be doing right?