Celebrating birthdays?

[SlaveOfGod]

:sl:

Today is my sister's birthday, she'll be 11 Inshallah and I was curious about the celebration of birthdays.....

For the past 10 years we haven't celebrated birthdays and today my Mum wants to hold a household celebration to make her happy (She's Special needs). I've told my mother I'm not sure if we should be doing this, but she says it's only having a cake which says happy birthday on it and maybe going out to eat.

I just want to know the Islamic stance on this, I've heard opinions saying celebrating birthdays is Haraam and others say it doesn't matter. Can someone clarify this?

:wa:

[nature]

:sl:

this topic has been discussed here many times. birthdays are haram as its taking part in kufr celebrations. read this: http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/1027/birthdays

also is your sister actually aware that its her birthday ? how well is she in understanding things ? I can understand your mum wanting to do something extra special for her, and its really sweet, but what about doing something x2 special on occassions such as eid for her ? maybe give her an extra present or sumthing ? what about when she does well at school then maybe make a fuss over her ?

:wa:

[Abu-Abdullah]

Salaam Brother!

here's what i learnt of it:

it is ok to celebrate birthdays as long as we dont consider it anything religious, and as long as it's origins is not based on a non-Muslim religion; shaykh bin Adam from sunnipath said that he couldn't determine properly wether the origins of birthday celebrations is based on any non-muslim religion or not

a great contemporary faqih, shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah says it is ok to celebrate birthdays for it is not based on the non-muslims religion

i done a bit of search on it myself and came across a site that suggested that it's origins is based on Christianity

not sure wether shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah done a proper investigation on it or not or just based his view on the apperant non-religious nature of the birthdays celebrated by westerners in general

so basically, i'm not quite sure myself wether it is ok or not brother, so i suppose you would have to make up your own mind :blind::muddlehea:)

sorry!

Salam!

ps: in the view of the above post; here is an explanation from Shaykh Abdullah bin bayyah as to why celebrations [of non-muslim origin] that are not based on their religions is ok to celebrate:

“The holidays which are forbidden [for Muslims] to observe are those with religious overtones [such as Christmas and Easter*] not the festive gatherings people observe due to certain events. Therefore, people are allowed to celebrate wedding anniversaries, birthdays or any occasion as such celebrations are not related to religious holidays. It is imperative that we work to remove the confusion surrounding this misunderstanding and the doubts that have affected many people [regarding this issue]. [Because of this misunderstanding] people find hardship and difficulty in their religion. Especially when a religious minded person holds [such non religious celebrations] to be from the major sins or rejected acts when, in fact, they are not.
Understanding an Important legal maxim [The origin of things is permissibility unless there is a text to the contrary]


The origin of things is permissibility so there is no problem with you attending such an event. The school of Ahmed [Hanabliah] allowed the celebration of al-’Atirah which was a sacrifice, during the month of Rajab, observed by the people who lived prior to the advent of the Prophet [may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him]. Although the school of Imam Malik [Malikis] considered it disliked, since it was a practice from those days, the school of Ahmed allowed this practice since there was no text [from the Qur’an, Sunna or Consensus] that explicitly forbade it. Thus, this practice remained upon its original ruling, permissibility [here the sheikh is showing us how the scholars utilized the legal maxim mentioned above]. So, if people gather together to sacrifice there is no objection for them to congregate, celebrate, enjoy themselves and commemorate the independence of their country. Therefore, there is no hardship in celebrating such occurrences.

With regards to the statement [of the Prophet may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] that “Allah [The Exalted] has given you better than those (feasts): Eid al-Adha (Sacrificing) and the ‘Eid al-Fitr”, then “those feasts” were those with strict religious over tones: one a Christian holiday and the other a pagan one. In addition, the Prophet [may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him] mentioned that the Islamic holidays were two: ‘Eid al-Fitr and ‘Eid al-Adha. But it is not understood from this that he [may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him] forbade people from gathering and celebrating [other non-religious occasions]. Even if a person considered [such gatherings] disliked there is no need for him to bother others by making things difficult that were not prohibited by the Qur’an, the Sunna, the consensus [of the scholars] and where no agreement was reached within the schools of Islamic law.

This is because ease in matters [such as these where there is no prohibition and the origin is that of permissibility] is a must, and those statements that create hardship and burden [related to such matters], that are not based on explicit texts [that prohibit them], are weak. Thus, there is nothing that prohibits us from facilitating such matters for the people and giving them some breathing room because ease and facilitation are from the foundations of Islam: Allah says, “And He did not make any hardship for you in religion.” [Surah al-Hajj 78] and “Allah wants to lighten your burdens.” [Surah al-Nisa V. 28] and “Verily, with hardship there is ease. Verily with hardship there is ease.” [Surah al-Sharh V. 5-6]. The Prophet [may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] said, “Facilitate [things] and do not make things difficult. Give glad tidings, and do not cause others to flee.” In closing, we reiterate that the foundation of Islam is ease and the independent interpretation of the legal sources [ijtihad of scholars] is respected but is not [equal to] texts from the Shari’ah [Qur’an and Sunna].”

May peace be upon you

Dr. Abdullah Bin Bayyah

[Beardo]

I haven't celebrated my birthday in... almost eight or nine years! But I do celebrate the two Eids like no other! As you get older, anyway, celebrating birthdays becomes... immature.

HOWEVER, I still remember on my 5th birthday, all my friends gave me a gift... They knew how much I loved trains so they gave me various train sets. And then... *sniffles* My mom kept only ONE set and gave the rest AWAY! D=

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[nature]

:sl:


Read these, they might help.

http://www.islamicboard.com/family-s...birthdays.html

http://www.islamicboard.com/miscella...ies-haram.html

http://www.islamicboard.com/aqeedah/...evidences.html


I searched for the answer few months back, and the majority of views were it was haram so i decided not to take part or go to any parties (this is widely done within my community) or to even buy presents for anyone, its great cos i can save huge amounts of cash now! :D birthdays are a pagan practice so i personally would rather stay away from things like this. I do know people that think its ok to celebrate, its the way of the world nowadays. If your sister doesnt understand the whole birthday thing then shes not missing much is she ? buy her something extra on eid, instead. there are other ways of your mum/family showing her love/affection why restrict it to a birthday ?

anyway, celebrating birthdays becomes... immature.

I agree, nuffin to celebrate ? its a year less of living.

:wa:

[Hannah.]

As long as its within the laws of the Shariah, you're cool

[Sigma]

It's a surprisingly tough question. Common sense would dictate that birthday's should be allowed aslong as there are no religious reasons involved (unlike celebrations like xmas or easter). However, birthdays are supposedly forbidden due to some long forgotten link with some faith or another which no one celebrates with the religious connotation in mind.... Up to you really, but avoiding birthdays would be the safe policy.

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

:sl:

If we started using the excuse that people no longer see it as having any religious or Paganistic connotation, then we might as well go celebrate Halloween, Valentines Day, New Years and Easter ^o).

Your best bet would be not to celebrate. But then again, I don't bother with birthdays.

[Salafi1407]

:sl:

If we started using the excuse that people no longer see it as having any religious or Paganistic connotation, then we might as well go celebrate Halloween, Valentines Day, New Years and Easter ^o).

Your best bet would be not to celebrate. But then again, I don't bother with birthdays.

Mashallah that is a very very good point.

[SlaveOfGod]

:wa:

Jazakallahukhair people, the day was actually pretty normal Alhamdulillah, but, I guess the safest bet would be to avoid birthday celebrations. Sorry if I repeated something it was purely by accident :S

also is your sister actually aware that its her birthday ? how well is she in understanding things ? I can understand your mum wanting to do something extra special for her, and its really sweet, but what about doing something x2 special on occassions such as eid for her ? maybe give her an extra present or sumthing ? what about when she does well at school then maybe make a fuss over her ?

:wa:

She knows it's her birthday, she was counting the days until her birthday and even asked my Mum to get her something.

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

:sl:

wa eyyak.

Generally its said to avoid birthday celebrations but when in doubt, leave it. Even if it is ok, youre not quite missing out on anything. You can always make any day a special day for her instead of a specific day, inshaallah. And if it's not ok to celebrate, know that you basically safeguarded yourself from getting involved in birthdays.

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

“The holidays which are forbidden [for Muslims] to observe are those with religious overtones [such as Christmas and Easter*] not the festive gatherings people observe due to certain events. Therefore, people are allowed to celebrate wedding anniversaries, birthdays or any occasion as such celebrations are not related to religious holidays. It is imperative that we work to remove the confusion surrounding this misunderstanding and the doubts that have affected many people [regarding this issue]. [Because of this misunderstanding] people find hardship and difficulty in their religion. Especially when a religious minded person holds [such non religious celebrations] to be from the major sins or rejected acts when, in fact, they are not.
Understanding an Important legal maxim [The origin of things is permissibility unless there is a text to the contrary]


The origin of things is permissibility so there is no problem with you attending such an event. The school of Ahmed [Hanabliah] allowed the celebration of al-’Atirah which was a sacrifice, during the month of Rajab, observed by the people who lived prior to the advent of the Prophet [may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him]. Although the school of Imam Malik [Malikis] considered it disliked, since it was a practice from those days, the school of Ahmed allowed this practice since there was no text [from the Qur’an, Sunna or Consensus] that explicitly forbade it. Thus, this practice remained upon its original ruling, permissibility [here the sheikh is showing us how the scholars utilized the legal maxim mentioned above]. So, if people gather together to sacrifice there is no objection for them to congregate, celebrate, enjoy themselves and commemorate the independence of their country. Therefore, there is no hardship in celebrating such occurrences.

With regards to the statement [of the Prophet may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] that “Allah [The Exalted] has given you better than those (feasts): Eid al-Adha (Sacrificing) and the ‘Eid al-Fitr”, then “those feasts” were those with strict religious over tones: one a Christian holiday and the other a pagan one. In addition, the Prophet [may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him] mentioned that the Islamic holidays were two: ‘Eid al-Fitr and ‘Eid al-Adha. But it is not understood from this that he [may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him] forbade people from gathering and celebrating [other non-religious occasions]. Even if a person considered [such gatherings] disliked there is no need for him to bother others by making things difficult that were not prohibited by the Qur’an, the Sunna, the consensus [of the scholars] and where no agreement was reached within the schools of Islamic law.

This is because ease in matters [such as these where there is no prohibition and the origin is that of permissibility] is a must, and those statements that create hardship and burden [related to such matters], that are not based on explicit texts [that prohibit them], are weak. Thus, there is nothing that prohibits us from facilitating such matters for the people and giving them some breathing room because ease and facilitation are from the foundations of Islam: Allah says, “And He did not make any hardship for you in religion.” [Surah al-Hajj 78] and “Allah wants to lighten your burdens.” [Surah al-Nisa V. 28] and “Verily, with hardship there is ease. Verily with hardship there is ease.” [Surah al-Sharh V. 5-6]. The Prophet [may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] said, “Facilitate [things] and do not make things difficult. Give glad tidings, and do not cause others to flee.” In closing, we reiterate that the foundation of Islam is ease and the independent interpretation of the legal sources [ijtihad of scholars] is respected but is not [equal to] texts from the Shari’ah [Qur’an and Sunna].”

May peace be upon you

Dr. Abdullah Bin Bayyah

+1!

Here's an excellent explanation on the oft-quoted hadeeth on Imitation by Imam Suhaib Webb:

http://www.suhaibwebb.com/islam-stud...n-suhaib-webb/

And another beneficial article on the subject of customs (such as birthdays):

http://www.suhaibwebb.com/islam-stud...s-permissible/

[SlaveOfGod]

:sa:

:sl:

wa eyyak.

Generally its said to avoid birthday celebrations but when in doubt, leave it. Even if it is ok, youre not quite missing out on anything. You can always make any day a special day for her instead of a specific day, inshaallah. And if it's not ok to celebrate, know that you basically safeguarded yourself from getting involved in birthdays.

We normally tend to avoid birthdays. Haven't celebrated one in 13 years, I tried telling my family to avoid it, but there's not much I can say. As I said above, it wasn't much of a celebration, it was practically a normal day.

:wa:

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

:sl:

I'm not giving a fatwa obviously nor an opinion of any kind but just what I'm thinking. Of course I could be wrong, so inshaallah dont take my word for it.

Thats how it usually goes if and when my family wants to do a little something on someones birthday....
I'm no scholar of course, so I dont push on my family about it. For myself personally, I dont celebrate. Do I still get a gift from them? Yes i do lol.

[nature]

:sl:

She knows it's her birthday, she was counting the days until her birthday and even asked my Mum to get her something.

We normally tend to avoid birthdays. Haven't celebrated one in 13 years, I tried telling my family to avoid it, but there's not much I can say. As I said above, it wasn't much of a celebration, it was practically a normal day.

Even though its a normal day, your still ruling the day out as a special occassion right ? we used to do the same, at ours. If shes special needs then your mum prob doesnt want her to feel as though shes missing out, and since shes aware, its her birthday, then she might think shes done something wrong, if she doesnt get anything. I dont know how you would explain religious stuff like this to a special needs child, or what your sisters needs are ? does she understand religion etc ? generally dont children/adults of sound mind get excused on stuff like this ? Sorry, maybe someone else can help you with that.

:wa:

[Sigma]

:sl:

If we started using the excuse that people no longer see it as having any religious or Paganistic connotation, then we might as well go celebrate Halloween, Valentines Day, New Years and Easter ^o).

Your best bet would be not to celebrate. But then again, I don't bother with birthdays.

I disagree with the comparison between birthdays and those other celebrations. Easter is very overtly religious and doesn't really need further explanation. Halloween is also disagreeble due to the emphasis on spirits and demons, which even though is not literal the imagery is pretty clear. I'm not aware of Valentines day's religious or pagan connotation, but i wuold have though it's the whole lovey dovey aspect which makes it impermissible. Last but not least, I'm not aware of New Years Eve being an impermissible celebration.

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

:sl:

They all have backgrounds of either a religious or unislaamic tone in them, which many if not all no longer see it as such. Just because you don't see it in my perception doesnt automatically make it wrong.

[Sigma]

:sl:

They all have backgrounds of either a religious or unislaamic tone in them, which many if not all no longer see it as such. Just because you don't see it in my perception doesnt automatically make it wrong.

I never said you were wrong, I was merely in disagreement. However, if we look deep enough i dare say we can find religious links in every little thing we do. The world has been steeped in religion for thousands of yours and only recently has a secular trend emerged. So if people want to be extra careful, i suggest they do some research into what they do. Who knows, maybe we should ditch culture altogether, often culturual practices have deeper pagan/religious undertones.

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

Ive read on about most of these so called celebrations and most have religious tones to them. And I dont have a problem ditching certain cultural practices <Pakistani culture especially> as a lot of it is unislaamic. So that statement has no effect on me. Since i started tounderstand islaam, ive always told people, especially my parents, that if youre ever going to tell me something, it better be islaam not culture.

I cant say much about birthdays but I'm ok not celebrating. It's not a big deal. I wont lose sleep over it.

[sherz_umr]

fuss over her (MAJOR!) on both the eids..she'l b looking fwd to eids than bdays.simple.
You cant blame children really. They percieve bdays to be a big deal bcoz their friends celebrate or sombdy on TV does or its all the amazing bday stuffs they see in stores etc..
Tell her about eid,make it a whole lot of fun (bonus:its twice a year)

[Al-Mufarridun]

Assalaamu Alaikum

An interesting insight; everything we fear we run away from it and its chasing behind us. Except for one, Death. The Grave is ahead of us waiting for us all. Each second that passes, each minute, day, year we're running towards it, getting closer to it.