What is the evidence that the Salaf or the Companions invited people to participate in eating the Aqiqah meal, and is inviting people and celebrating it considered an innovation (bid‘ah)? What is the explanation of the hadith of Mu‘awiyah ibn Qurrah regarding the invitation of the Companions after the child's arrival?

There is no specific textual evidence in Islamic law detailing how to dispose of the aqiqah (definition) meat. The majority of scholars hold that it is treated like the meat of the udhiyah (definition) (sacrificial animal during Eid al-Adha) in terms of its permissibility of consumption. It is permissible to cook all of it, or to give it all away in charity, or to combine both. Some jurists are of the opinion that cooking the aqiqah and inviting people to eat it is better than distributing it raw, contrary to the view of Imam Malik, who disliked this out of concern for ostentation. However, if the invitation is free from ostentation, then there is no harm in it. Indeed, some of the Salaf even went so far as to permit inviting people for a meal as an expression of joy for the newborn.