Muwatta Malik 1071
موطأ مالك#1071SahihThese are the words of a Successor — the generation after the Companions — not of the Prophet ﷺ.
وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ رَبِيعَةَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنِ الْحَارِثِ التَّيْمِيِّ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبِي يَسْتَحِبُّ الْعَقِيقَةَ، وَلَوْ بِعُصْفُورٍ .
Yahya related to me from Malik from Rabia ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman that Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith at-Taymi said, "I heard my father say that the aqiqa was desirable, even if it was only a sparrow
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. Each scholar's own wording:
In-book reference: 26:5