Question:
what is the evidence on celebrating birthdays,is it allowed in islam?Answer:
The evidence in the Qur’aan and Sunnah indicates that celebrating birthdays is a kind of bid’ah or innovation in religion, which has no basis in the pure sharee’ah. It is not permitted to accept invitations to birthday celebrations, because this involves supporting and encouraging bid’ah. Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Or have they partners with Allaah (false gods) who have instituted for them a religion which Allaah has not allowed…?” [al-Shoora 42:21]
“Then We have put you (O Muhammad) on a plain way of (Our) commandment. So follow that, and follow not the desires of those who know not. Verily, they can avail you nothing against Allaah (if He wants to puish you). Verily, the zaalimoon (wrongdoers) are awliyaa’ (protectors, helpers, etc.) to one another, but Allaah is the Wali (Protector, Helper) of the muttaqoon (pious).” [al-Jaathiyah 45:18-19]
“Follow what has been sent down unto you from your Lord, and follow not any awliyaa’ (protectors, helpers, etc.) besides Him. Little do you remember!” [al-A’raaf 7:3]According to saheeh reports, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever does something that is a not part of this matter of ours (i.e., Islam) will have it rejected” (reported by Muslim in his Saheeh); and “The best of speech is the Book of Allaah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The most evil of things are those which have been newly invented (in religion), and every innovation is a going astray.” There are many other ahaadeeth that convey the same meaning.
Besides being bid’ah and having no basis in sharee’ah, these birthday celebrations also involve imitation of the Jews and Christians in their birthday celebrations. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, warning us against following their ways and traditions: “You would follow the ways of those who came before you step by step, to such an extent that if they were to enter a lizard’s hole, you would enter it too.” They said, “O Messenger of Allaah, (do you mean) the Jews and Christians?” He said, “Who else?” (Reported by al-Bukhaari and Muslim). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.”
Fataawa Islamiyyah, 1/115
Assalaam alaikum:
It is always advisible to put forward sensible comments.
Will u say that talking, speaking, breathing, eating, playing games, sports, fighting, marrrying and etc.. can be considerd as imitating Jews and Christians? Those things are not only done by Jews and christians and those things didnt even start only from them. There are common things for the humanity. Even at the time of prophet (peace and blessing of ALLAH be upon him) there were things which the people of all religions and all cultures did and Muslims did wat prophet and ALLAH allowed. eg: Horse riding was done by all.
U imagine with the imitating of the jews and christians instead of going to the mosque if a muslim start to goto church, then can u differentiate between that muslim and christians?, because that person will be doing wat the others also do and according to prophet (peace and blessing of ALLAH be upon him) he will be one of them.
U also will knw that Christians started celebrating the birthday of Jesus and if the muslims celebrate the birthday of Muhammadh (peace and blessing of ALLAH be upon him) then is it not a imitation which is forbidden??? then we must knw that we hav to look at wat the companions of prophet (peace and blessing of ALLAH be upon him) did. Companions didn’t celebrate birth day of the person whom they all loved the most. why ddnt they celebrate???? Do you think they dnt hav money to do it??? NO, not at all. There were rich companions who will spent all their property for the prophet (peace and blessing of ALLAH be upon him). They didnt even celebrate their birthdays. They didnt do it becoz its not allowed in islam. Islam prohibits copying all the things from the christianity and jews religion (not from their human behaviors and worldly doing which are allowed and common to all people).
We dnt joke at wat ALLAH and Rasul orders us and being a muslim no one can do it, instead that person must go out of the folds of islam to joke at the orders of ALLAH and Rasul (peace and blessing of ALLAH be upon him).
ALLAH knows BEST.
n the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner, thank you for your question and the confidence you place in our service and we pray to Allah to enable us to render this service purely for His Sake.
Islam teaches Muslim to have a unique character and to be distinguished. A Muslim is weaned on morality and avoiding blind imitation. Islam supports the celebration of a birthday if it is an expression of gratitude to Allah for His bounties, sustenance and blessings in man’s life, as long as that celebration does not include anything that may displease Allah, the Almighty.
Focusing on the issue of celebrating birthdays, we would like to start by citing the following:
“In Islam, birthdays are not considered `eid (a festival) like `Eidul-Fitr or `Eidul-Adha, because `eids have conditions and guidelines such as not being allowed to fast during the days of Eid. Therefore, birthdays are simply occasions of a person’s date of birth and are a matter of culture. If a person wants to commemorate his/her date of birth, then he/she may do so, especially if he/she takes the opportunity to reflect on the past and pledge to be better during the following year. However, to make the birthday an important occasion is not recommended or encouraged.” (Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: http://www.islamicity.com)
Shedding more light on the issue, the prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Tajuddin Hamid Al-Hilali, Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, states:
“A Muslim has a distinguished personality. He should not imitate others in evil things and leave the good ones. Talking to our children about their birthdays, we should remind them that on such days they should remember the blessings of Allah and praise Him for giving them life and guidance. It would be better if we ask them to offer something in charity as a form of showing gratitude.
Still there is nothing wrong if we try to make them feel happy on that day as long as we are using lawful things. It is better if we make it a day ahead or a day after. You said that your children insist on having such a celebration, and this is really dangerous. If the child insists on having his desires fulfilled at this early age, what is going to happen when he grows older? We need to be alarmed and never allow Western traditions that are based on individualism, to ruin our families. Thus, calling birthdays `eids is not accepted, for this has no basis in Islam. At the same time, there is nothing wrong if we use these occasions to inculcate Islamic principles in our children, like showing gratitude to Allah, praising Him and seizing the chance of this life in performing good deeds since the older we grow the nearer to the grave we come.”
Speaking about the same issue Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, Deputy Chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, adds:
“Permissibility is the original ruling in this case, as there is no evidence of prohibition. The principle of not following the Jews and Christians is really required in matters of their false claims and beliefs in relation to religion. Such beliefs are no more than disbelief from an Islamic perspective.
Islam supports the celebration of birthdays if it is an expression of gratitude to Allah for His bounties, sustenance and blessings in man’s life, as long as that celebration does not include anything that may displease Allah, the Almighty. In this context the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about fasting on Mondays, and he answered: “It is the day on which I was born.” Muslim scholars take this hadith and the hadith of fasting on the Day of `Ashura’ (10th of Mharram) as evidence on the permissibility of celebrating good occasions, which have special significance in our religion such as occasions like the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
In this context, people must be aware that celebrating such occasions, e.g. the Prophet’s birthday, is no more than a matter of habit, and by no means a religious requirement. However, if it entails any forbidden practices, such a celebration becomes forbidden for that reason alone. Moreover, a celebration of this sort becomes recommended if it includes recommended acts of worship.
It is also right to say that such celebrations contain some aspects of innovation, however it is an innovation in matters of popular habits not in matters of religion. Actually innovation in habits is not prohibited. What is prohibited in this context is innovation in religion, as indicated in a well-known Prophetic hadith.
By analogy, there is nothing wrong in celebrating birthdays, as long as the celebration does not include any forbidden practices.”
Also read:
Muslims Celebrating the Holidays of Other Religion
talking, speaking, breathing, eating, playing games, sports, fighting, marrrying and etc.. were done by prophet pbuh
you dont see any evidence of birthdays being celebrated even though prophet pbuh and his companions did had birthdays .
you can be careless and find the easiest way to live by keeping on imitating some celebrations without any knowledge of right or wrong.
in this day and age it is easy to be normal by criticizing the right way because the whole culture is anti-religion and loose.
what seems normal by majority is not neccesarily right.
remember the early days of prophet(pbuh) he was called a majnu and stones were thrown at him and he life was put in danger for calling towards one god (allah).
nowadays many of us muslims dont pray five times dont give
zakat, are not honest to each other and commit so many sins in a day and question the scholars. isnt it ironic.
Salaamualaikum
mohammad
Hi,
I, in fact, request more than what the article has stated. 1) author’s name. 2) Hadith numbers, 3) validate ur points, just do not stop with the translation of the Verses.
Regards.
AOA,
I object to your explanation, first I need to know whether
1. Celebrating birthday has any LINK to religion i.e. Islam (Keeping in mind that we are not sending invitations and/or mix-gathering etc. what I mean is just an event at home to cheer up).
2. If its not allowed then why not any scholar what so ever speak against celebrating INDEPENDENCE day esp when it comes to celebrating independence day of a non-muslim state,
I had been referred to your site by a friend proclaiming its JUSTIFIED to celebrate independence day because somehow they believe its POLITICAL as well in Islam you should be devoted to your STATE (even if its non-islam) kafir.
Waiting for your reply
I’m still waiting for the reply?
Assalaam alaykum,
The last commented user plz visit
http://english.islamweb.net/ver2/Fatwa/ShowFatwa.php?lang=E&Id=90435&Option=FatwaId
if copying a nation makes us one of them…
then why is the islamic calender based on moon sightings?
the pagan arabs did this
then why do females have to wear veils?
the byzantines started this
then if we drive a car does that make us american?
u must be and english/ western person if you are using their language right now
AOA,
It still does not say about my question yes this condition is different when you are inteacting with non-musliims anyway I am rephraising my question
“If celebrating birthdays are forbidden why not independence day”
‘u must be and english/ western person if you are using their language right now’
That’s the question I had too.
sheer nonsense !