No relation between Athaan in the newborn's ear and his funeral prayer afterwards
27-3-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamualaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh, I have read that the adhan is given at the time of birth in the right ear of a baby and the salah (salatul janazah), relating to that adhan, is read after death. Is there a hadith that supports this connection between the adhan at birth and salah read after death. Thank you. Jazakallahu khayran.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
This is totally groundless; there is no relation between reciting the Athaan (call to prayer) in the newborn's ear – which has been prescribed in the Sunnah - and the funeral prayer over him after his death.
Perhaps it is appropriate to mention some of the scholarly opinions about the wisdom behind reciting the Athaan in the newborn’s ear. Ibn Al-Qayyim 
said in his book Tuhfat Al-Mawdood, “The wisdom behind calling the Athaan in the newborn’s ear - and Allaah Knows best - is to ensure that the first words the baby hears are words about the majesty and greatness of Allaah and the testimony of faith by which one becomes a Muslim, and of which one would be reminded by other Muslims when he is about to leave this world. It is conceivable that the impact of the Athaan in the newborn's ear reaches his heart even if he could not feel it (then). A further benefit is that Satan runs away from the words of the Athaan. Satan (the newborn's accompanying devil) waits for the child to be born to accompany him in this world for the tribulation predestined by Allaah for him. Thus, his accompanying devil hears what weakens and teases him in the first moments of this companionship. In another sense, calling Athaan to the newborn ensures that calling him to Allaah, His true religion of Islam, and His worship precedes the whisperings of evil that would later come from the accompanying devil, the same as the (pure) innate human disposition that Allaah has inculcated in man precedes any change or distortion caused by the devil, and for other rationales.”
Others mentioned that the wisdom behind it is that it serves as a reminder of the shortness of the worldly journey and that it is as short as the time between the Athaan and Iqaamah.
Allaah Knows best.