Newly married couples who are expecting may be doing some preparations to welcome the birth of their precious little ones. Some may even be wondering what is the deifinition of tahnik and why it is done.
According to the Mufti of Federal Territory Malaysia, tahnik is defined as chewing something for such dates or anything sweet, and rub it on the palate of a newborn baby.
The practice of tahnik is sunnah. A hadith narrated by Anas bin Malik R.A said:
ذَهَبْتُ بِعَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي طَلْحَةَ الأَنْصَارِيِّ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم حِينَ وُلِدَ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي عَبَاءَةٍ يَهْنَأُ بَعِيرًا لَهُ فَقَالَ هَلْ مَعَكَ تَمْرٌ فَقُلْتُ نَعَمْ فَنَاوَلْتُهُ تَمَرَاتٍ فَأَلْقَاهُنَّ فِي فِيهِ فَلاَكَهُنَّ ثُمَّ فَغَرَ فَا الصَّبِيِّ فَمَجَّهُ فِي فِيهِ فَجَعَلَ الصَّبِيُّ يَتَلَمَّظُهُ
I took 'Abdullah b. Abi Talha Ansari to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) at the time of his birth. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was at that time wearing a woollen cloak and besmearing the camels with tar. He said: Have you got with you the dates? I said: Yes. He took hold of the dates and put them in his mouth and softened them, then opened the mouth of the infant and put that in it and the child began to lick it.
Sahih Muslim (2144)
As a Shariah-friendly healthcare centre, ANDORRA Women & Children Hospital highly encourages parents to perform tahnik on their babies as soon as they are born. Fathers who accompany their wives in our labour rooms or operation theatre throughout the birth process will be provided with a date and a small bottle of zamzam water to be used during the process of tahnik.
The whole process will be observed by our clinical staff on duty at the moment to ensure it runs smoothly. Couples are able to experience the precious moment of performing tahnik on their precious ones and at the same time, practicing the sunnah of Rasulullah SAW. However, tahnik is not compulsory to be performed on all babies who are born at ANDORRA, but highly recommended.
A video, shared below, by one of ANDORRA's patients who had just given birth to her first baby on December 7, 2021, shows a tahnik session performed by her husband as soon as the baby was born.
Reference:
The Ruling of Tahnik With Other Than Dates, https://bit.ly/3AjNx0N