CLARIFYING MY OPINION ON BIRTHDAY AND ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

It is absolutely normal and should be expected that when a view is aired and backed up with evidences, there will certainly be varying opinions or contradictions to the view. Everyone cannot accept our views no matter how clear it is aired. What a sincere seeker of truth should rather do while faced with varying opinions is to consider the evidences of the opinions and go by that which he is convinced by as the strongest and more accurate. I appreciate those who recently shared with me a video clip of a respected scholar in Nigeria who publicly declared birthday, anniversary celebrations as bid’ah (religious heresy) and haram in contrary to the 2 volumes of articles I’ve written on the matter 3 years ago. Knowledge is a trust (amaanah) and should be preserved. There are certainly clear inconsistency of knowledge in the clip (and others of such nature) which needs to be further commented on. (Do not forget everyone will not buy your opinion – but we owe the truth a debt.)

1: Up till this moment, neither in any clip or writing has anyone provided an Islamic evidence to declare these celebrations haram/bid’ah. And we have all agreed that the right to declare a matter as Haram lies with Allah. And non-religious matter are basically permissible until proven otherwise. I assume the first thing those who hold this extremism opinion should do is to establish how any of these celebrations is ibaadatu Mahdah (specific act of worship). They can never open their mouth to declare such celebrations as ibaadah; that will only exposes more of their ignorance. Ibaadah is a legislated act of worship you do expecting Allah’s reward for it, and not doing it without valid excuse means you are a sinner. And if anyone claims there can be bid’ah in non religious affairs (after the Prophet has made it known that أنتم أعلم بأمور دنياكم the basis of non religious affairs is permissibility), let the person quote an evidence in support of such claim beyond the statement of Imam Shaatibi they failed to understand its context. Then the person will need to answer questions about many other non religious affairs and celebrations of such kinds, and you will see how obvious the inconsistency in knowledge.

2: It was claimed the celebrations ruling is “bid’ah munkarah – a rejected innovation”.

This cannot be so. You cannot term a social affair which has nothing to do with religion in its basis as bid’ah. The judgement of bid’ah can only be on solely religious affairs as unanimously agreed upon by all scholars of Islam. After all, the famous definition we all quote for bid’ah is that of Imam Shatibi which says:
“طريقة في الدين مخترعة، تضاهي الشرعية، يقصد بالسلوك عليها المبالغة في التعبد لله سبحانه”
Meaning: “an invented path in the affairs of religion that emulates the Shari’ah, which is intended to exaggerate the worship of Allah.”

Sheikh al-Qaradawi in his famous lecture on bid’ah rendered into a booklet, in pg 6 and 18, he affirmed it many times that bid’ah can only be judged on religious affairs البدعة مجالها الدين.

3: And the basis of social celebrations has nothing to do with the religion. Religious celebrations are well known in all religions.

The Muslims – we celebrate Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adhaa as our core religious celebrations. No difference of opinion about this.

The Christians – they adopt Easter and Christmas as their religious festivals. No Muslim should be found celebrating these religious festivals.

The Jews – they regard Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as their religious festivals.

Pls which religion adopt/regard Birthday and Anniversary celebrations as their religious celebrations? Pls we need to know that religion.

4: Okay, it was said we should search Google for the origin of Birthday. Great! But they forgot to tell us to search Google for the origin of anniversary 😀 (because it has no origin).

Yes we have searched Google and we have found out that the famous article on Google says the origin is from the Egyptian kings. And how does that affect its ruling? Are those celebrating it doing so with the same intention of the then Egyptian kings? Was it a religious celebration to the then kings? No. Even the same Google explains the celebration was not their birth into the world, but their “birth” as a god. How can we mix a shirk inclined intention with that which is social?

That famous article on Google is even wrong because birthday celebration has been dated back to the Pagans. And who are the pagans? Did they regard it as a religious festival then? Where are the pagans in today’s world?

5: The sociopolitical foundation of societies of the past is founded on paganism.

Majority of all social celebrations emanated from the Pagans and West including graduation, end of the year party, even World Hijab Day was declared by Nazma Khan, a Muslim woman from New York city. With this erroneous mathematic, it means since the origins of all these are not Islam, they are as well impermissible. Yearly World Hijab Day should even be the first to be declared bid’ah if we want to go by this analogy, because there is no way it won’t comprise of fitnah – the fitnah of hijabite exposing their pictures, displaying themselves in parade all over the streets, and Allah has said
وَقَرْنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجْنَ تَبَرُّجَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ الْأُولَىٰ….
[…And (you women should) stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of the people of jahiliyyah of yore;…] Q33:33

What about the origin of house warming? Did you verify that? It is also from the West. So it should be termed bid’ah too.

The problem of all this choose and pick fataawa is that they lack consistency and cannot sustain the test of knowledge. There are religious festivals and there are generic and social celebrations that have nothing to do with the religion, no matter their origin. A lot of foods, wears, drinks, we take today emanate from this West as well, but because they are not religious affairs they cannot take a ruling of a religious matter. Including days and months of years we adopt. Graduation ceremony, house-warming, anniversary of anything important, as well as birthday, all inclusive. English language, the social media we use and etc all emanated from the West. They will not be considered haram or bid’ah because they are not religious affairs but generic and social ones.

6: There are many affairs the Prophet himself adopted from the Pagans and Kuffar and he never go against them because they are not religious. Many and many of them. He met the Arab and his Sahaabah doing them, so far they did not contradict any fundamental of the religion, he left them to it. A simple example is the way the Prophet dressed.

Another example is the idea of the Persian Zoroastrian Pagans that the Prophet adopted in the battle of Khandaq. Salman al-Faarisiy was a persian and he was the first to accept Islam among his entire ethnicity.

He told the Prophet that: “In Persia, when we were surrounded by the enemy, we used to surround ourselves with a trench” the Prophet adopted the idea and he ordered the digging of the trench around madeenah; the Prophet was well aware of the origin of the idea but he adopted it because the idea was not given on a religious matter.

Even the one on religious matter, the Prophet still adopted their idea. An example is the fast of the 10th of Muharram that the Prophet met the Jew of Madeenah fasting. He adopted it and made it Islamic, despite its origin is Jewish. That’s even on a religious affair.

7: There is an important hadith we need to mention in this matter of origin. And no one will regard the hadith as weak; they can only explain away and change the interpretation.

The hadith of Buwwaanah.
Thaabit bn Dhahhak reported that:
:” نذر رجل أن ينحر إبلا ببوانة، فسأل النبي فقال: هل كان فيها وثن من أوثان الجاهلية يُعبد؟ قالوا: لا. قال: فهل كان فيها عيد من أعيادهم؟ قالوا: لا. فقال رسول الله: أوف بنذرك، فإنه لا وفاء لنذر في معصية الله، ولا فيما لا يملك ابن آدم”
Meaning: [A man has made a vow to slaughter a camel at a place called Buwaanah. (This Buwaanah is a place where the Polytheists do converge yearly to celebrate their religious festivals and anniversaries then), he then asked the Prophet if he can fulfill his vow (because the place he vowed about has been a venue the mushrikoon did slaughter and do festivals), the Prophet asked: “are there still idols of the mushrikoon that they worship in the place? The Sahabah answered “No”, the Prophet asked again “do they still come there yearly for their yearly festivals?” (note that the Arabic word used here is عيد Eid – to refer to their religious yearly festival) the Sahabah answered “No”. The Prophet then said “fulfill your vow, for there will be no fulfillment of a vow that is meant to disobey Allah, and on what the human cannot afford.] recorded by Abu Daawud 3313, and Tabraaniy 1/134 from Yahya bn Abi Kethir. Sheikh al-Albaniy amongst others graded it authentic in silsilah saheehah Vol 6 pg 874. Ibn Taemiyah said in his Iqtidau Siraat Mustaqeem pg 186 that the basis of this hadith is in Saheeh Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim and it is undoubtedly authentic.

You can see clearly in this hadith that the Prophet permitted the Sahaabiy to fulfill his vow despite the origin of the place is known to be idolatrous but because the then reality has changed and it is no more used for a religious center, it becomes generic, thus the prophet permitted it. In the hadith, the Prophet saying “for there will be no fulfillment of a vow that is meant to disobey Allah” means the prophet’s verdict and the Sahaabiy’s decision is halal because if such vow was meant to disobey Allah or goes against the Shari’ah, the Prophet wouldn’t have permitted it. From this hadith, the Sahabah and scholars concluded that even if the origin is Shirk but later changed to something generic and not regarded as shirk anymore, we consider the reality and not the origin.

The reality of birthday and anniversary celebrations in our age today clearly denote they are not religious but social and funfair celebration.

8: Why did this same set of scholars permitted Mawlid Nabiy? And when they want to justify it, they first lay claim that it isn’t an ibaadah but an awareness and non religious affair in its basis. Even when Mawlid is more closer to the religion than birthday and anniversary celebrations. Why the inconsistency? Why the betrayal of knowledge? Did they as well Google the origin of Mawlid Nabiyy too? The first persons said to celebrate Mawlid Nabiyy in an organized manner are a known set of heretic Muslims.

But Mawlid will not be impermissible because the origin is not the consideration.

9: Then there is this sentiment that this our brothers submit to term these celebrations haram. But in all honesty, it is a sentiment that holds no water and devoid of intellectualism.

What is the sentiment?

They usually say “your age is reducing, why should you celebrate?” as well is the sentiment that “it is a time wasting activity”.

Our fathers in yoruba land would say “imo lo ladini ogbon o gbe” meaning, mere sentiment cannot be used to legislate a ruling in Islam.

This point should rather be said as an advice because it can never make a ruling.

The point of age reduction is relative. A glass cup half full is half empty. Another Muslim may look at it from the perspective that he’s thankful to Allah for years spent despite his mates have gone dead, some went away by Covid-19, accidents and etc. It is indeed a ni’mah (blessing of Allah) and Allah said:
وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّث
(And as for the favor of your Lord, do announce (it).)

Didn’t you think about your age reducing when you rented chairs and tent to celebrate your house warming? To celebrate your return from Hajj/journey, when you invited friends over for your PhD degree, when you celebrate acquiring a new car, you never thought of your age reduction when you participate in your office yearly party! Can you see the inconsistency in fatwa?

People are relative in what they hold important and what makes them happy. Let the Muslim engage in any act that makes them happy so far it is not haram and haram isn’t introduced in the course of celebration. This kind of sentiment cannot make a ruling of haram on these celebrations.

So also will the issue of time wasting rather be given as an advice and not as a conclusion that defines the celebrations as haram. Never!

To someone who isn’t a fan of football, such person can conclude football lovers waste 2hrs of their precious time watching football. Is watching football haram because 2hrs is wasted in it? A person who isn’t a fan of seeing movie may conclude seeing movie or going to the cinema is a waste of time, blah blah, but should he conclude seeing movies is haram? He dare not do that! What of the time being wasted playing PS (Playstation) game and other mobile games? What about the time used in seeing comedies and videos on social media platforms? Does this make all these fun acts haram or bid’ah? Because they all have their origins from the West. They will never be ruled haram so far no haram agent is introduced.

We will only advise Muslims to watch over their time and try to use it well on fruitful affairs. No matter how holy you want to sound to people, the fact remains there is no human being that can concentrate and focus on serious affairs for a long hour, you will need rest, you will need to engage in things that grant you fun.

A scholar once said he sleeps for 2hrs daily and still think about the 2hrs he sleeps, that the 2hrs he sleeps is the time another person is using to engage in ibaadah. By this, should such scholar conclude those who sleeps over 2hrs are committing haram or bid’ah? What kind of inconsistency is this for Allah’s sake!!!!!

10: It is as well said that the fatwa permitting birthday and anniversary celebration is an imported fatwa. This is another inconsistency point. Explaining the ruling of a matter is different from passing a fatwa or making a mawqif on a matter subjected to ijtihaad.

Many a time is Sheikh Yuusuf al-Qaradawi’s fatwa/explanation of a ruling being presented to people. Isn’t al-Qaradawi a foreign scholar? Ibn Taemiyyah is a foreign scholar, Ibn Baaz is a foreign scholar, the fatwa of Ibn Uthaimeen is imported, Sheikh Dido Shinqeeti is not a Nigerian, the fataawa of Sheikh Esaam Bashir are imported fataawa, and so so on. Or are these scholars Nigerian? We are not after the personality of a scholar but his explanations, points and evidences. Indoctrination and partisanship is evil as so as extremism.

11: Do you care to know Sheikh al-Qaradawi’s fatwa on birthday and anniversary? Sheikh al-Qaradawi never regarded birthday and anniversary celebrations as bid’ah or haram.

(للقرضاوي رأي علمي معتدل كفكره وفقهه، في قضية الاحتفال بيوم الميلاد، فهو يرى جواز ذلك، لأن الأمر لا يتعلق بعمل تعبدي، ولا يتعارض مع ثابت ديني ولا عقدي، فهو عمل يدخل في باب: العادات، ولا يوجد ما يمنع منه شرعا، ولا يوجد دليل يقيني يمنعه، ولذا كان من أول من أجاز الاحتفال به، من دون أن يسمى عيدا، بل يسمى: يوم الميلاد، وهو ما قال به بعد ذلك الدكتور العالم سلمان العودة فك الله أسره. وكذلك أجاز القرضاوي الاحتفال بيوم الزواج…)
Sheikh al-Qaradawi and the likes of Sheikh Salman al-Audah all regarded birthday and anniversary celebrations as something social and permissible. They see it as a non religious affair and what no evidence declares haram. Can you pls shift the refutation to these scholars too!

And even on the official YouTube page of Sheikh al-Qaradawi, even though they edited away where he said it is halal, the part left untouched only talked about time, which advises Muslims to channel their time into affairs beneficiary to them and not to waste it on frivolous affairs. Sh. Al-Qaradawi has written a book on time management titled “Time in the life of a Muslim”, so his advice is a great and good one for all Muslims, but yet he never declared those celebrations as haram.

Yes Sheikh al-Qaradawi does not celebrate his own birthday, but his students and lovers did celebrate and honor him with gifts on his birthday and he won’t reject them. Sheikh Dr. JamaluDeen Atiyyah (rahimahu Allahu) wrote a book about Sh. Al-Qaradawi when al-Qaradawi clocked 70yrs then. All these were reported by Sheikh Esaam Taleemah – one of the prominent students of Sheikh Qaradawi who is also a Sheikh in Azhar. He’s the one who wrote the articles مع القرضاوي. And these stories are all on Google and the website of al-jazeerah.

12: For those who haven’t read or need to revise my previous 2 volumes of article written on this subject matter before, you can find them in my site taofeeq.onlinebusinessexplained.com, just input “birthday” in the search icon and you will find the articles. Or click the links below:

Islamic ruling as regard birthday, anniversary celebrations (VOLUME 1).. http://ibntaofeeq.com/permissibility-of-celebrating-birthdays-anniversaries/

Islamic ruling as regard birthday, anniversary celebrations (VOLUME 2).. http://ibntaofeeq.com/permissibility-of-celebrating-birthdays-anniversariesvolume-2/

There are issues I have discussed in those 2 volumes I didn’t bother to repeat here. Example is the issue of the linguistic definition of Eid meaning something which occurs yearly, so some just place the ruling on birthday and anniversary as haram because it occurs yearly. The annual seminar, Aqsa Day, WHD and etc will also be considered haram by same logic too. That’s wrong. A linguistic definition does not inform a legitimate ruling. I’ve explained this in the Vol 2 article, amongst other points too.

I personally do not celebrate my own birthday because I do not give a regard to it, and that will not make me to declare it haram or bid’ah since no clear evidence denotes on that. But Yes I do celebrate my wedding anniversary, it is special to me and my wife and a special moment to travel back marital memories.

I am open to deleting and retracting this stance if there’s any evidence that prohibits these celebrations and not usual sentiments or fatwa of some scholars which lack intellectualism. It is a grave sin to declare what isn’t haram as haram. I urge all those who have fell into this category to make a sincere repentance to their lord and make ammendment where necessary. It is better not to encourage a permissible act than to declare it haram or bid’ah upon erroneous points.

13: As regard the two festivals the Prophet met them celebrating in madeenah and replaced. I explained that in the Vol 2 of the earlier articles as well. Those festivals are religious festivals of the Zoroastrians named Nairuz and Mahrajan then. Just read the Sharh of the hadith from awnul ma’bud عون المعبود على سنن أبي داود and the knowledge will be exposed to you.

Even with that, our dear mother Aaishah radiya Allahu anhaa was asked about the gifts of the Zoroastrians during their Eid, she said “take their fruits and leave their meats”.

Ali bn Abee Taalib was living in kuffah. And kuffah belongs to Zoroastians then. He was given فالوزات a kind of chocolate. They said it is for Nairuz festival. The companion of the Prophet said: “May everyday be your nairuz”.

14: This topic wouldn’t have been addressed at all if not for those who betray knowledge by calling what isn’t haram and bid’ah as one, so it is a must to set the history of knowledge straight.

I know many of you who are as well convinced these celebrations aren’t haram nor bid’ah, but you are in fear to voice out your opinion because you may be regarded as “rebel” or “heretic” of an organization. Don’t worry, I’ve helped you to voice it out. And fear no one, as the mercy and blessings of Allah is superior over any slander and blackmail.

15: We have glorified taqleed (blind followership and indoctrination) while pretending to preach against taqleed. And we have adopted taqleed through the back door by claiming Fahm Salaf – as if there’s a consensus among the Salaf on those issues. We only use it as a gimmick to cajole people to do our taqleed blindly.

And some of you have been brainwashed to always follow some specific scholars opinions even when you aren’t convinced enough. An Islamic matter should be treated as one with Islamic evidences for or against, and there’s no need to resort to blackmail or ostracization when asked to prove your assertion. Such is treacherous!

6th August, 2022.