Question: What is the ruling concerning celebrating birthdays?
Response: Celebrating birthdays has no source whatsoever in the pure shariah. In fact, it is an innovation, since the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said,
"Whoever introduces anything into this matter of ours that does not belong to it shall have that action rejected."
This was recorded by both al-Bukhari and Muslim. In a version recorded by Muslim and by al-Bukhari in definitive muallaq form1,
"Whoever performs a deed which is not in accord with our affairs, that deed is rejected."
It is well-known that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not celebrate his birthday at all during his lifetime nor did he ever order it to be celebrated. Nor did he teach such to his Companions. Therefore, the rightly-guided caliphs and all of his Companions did not celebrate it. They are the most knowledgeable of the people concerning his sunnah and they are the most beloved to the Prophet (peace be upon him). They were also the most keen upon following whatever the Prophet (peace be upon him) brought. Therefore, if one is supposed to celebrate the Prophet's birthday, this would have been made evident at their time. Similarly, not one of the scholars of the best generations2 celebrated his birthday nor did they order it to be done.
Therefore, it is known from the above that such a celebration is not from the Law that Allah sent Muhammad (peace be upon him) with. We ask Allah and all Muslims to witness that if the Prophet (peace be upon him) had done so or ordered such to be done, or even if his Companions had done so, we would rush to do it and call others to do it. This is because, and all praises are due to Allah, we are the most keen in following his sunnah and respecting his commands and prohibitions. We ask Allah, for ourselves and for all of our brethren Muslims, steadfastness upon the truth, avoiding everything that differs from Allah's pure shariah. Verily, He is Generous and Noble.
Shaikh Ibn Baz
15 comments:
salam aleikom ,
http://saveoursunnah.blogspot.com/2009/07/birthdays.html
:P
Good post Sarah... thanks for sharing
Great post sister. Jazakillaahu khayran. You are so right, sometimes...most times, things are best left to the scholars.
The Prophet salalahu alahi wa salaam said that the two Eids were to be our only holidays---what other advice do I need than that? He never told us not to get together with those in our community, and he encouraged gift giving among the believers---but he said do not honor any other day but the two Eids for all the other holidays are for the disbelievers. When you celebrate a birthday, you give gifts and gather, for a custom not of the deen. When you give gifts to those you love, and gather to support eachother (not on a set date of the disbelievers) who do it to please Allah.
hey sis wanted to tell you that your blog looks quite nice!!!mashallah.
Whats the big deal in celebrating your birthday anyway? Before I even knew it was haram birthdays didn't appeal to me as something grand. If anything we should honor our mothers on that day!! lol
Asalam Alaykum,
I wanted to invite you to a Muslimah forum ukti. I know you will like it a lot please come and at least let us meet you inshAllah. It is called Cafe Muslimah..
http://z3.invisionfree.com/Cafe_Muslimah/index.php?
Celebrateing Birthdays is Are imatation of the Kuffar. when I was Christian I didn't Celebrate them.
tagged!
http://teabreakthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/honestly-speaking.html
i love your blog, you write very well mashAllah
Assalamu alaikum sister,
I love this post. It's a relief to see other people also trying hard to teach people about the innovation of celebrating birthdays. Jazaki allahu khairan.
Allah Created Me
Salam. I think it's a good idea to remember that not all scholars see the celebration of birthdays as something wrong and we should not judge people since they follow other scholars. Ibn Baz is not that popular :)
I don't think anybody can call it a biddah because the definition of biddah is adding or subtracting something to the religion. Celebrating a birthday is not a religious act, nor is/was it intended to be, and there is nothing harmful that comes of it.
I should point out that I don't care for birthdays anyway; I'm just saying it's not something to get in a bother over and people have different opinions that should be respected.
Wa alaikum asalam shadowcaster
I'm not sure why you said that Bin Baaz was not popular. Its not a popularity contest.... He is one of the great scholars. Also, I don't really know of any scholars that say celebrating a birthday is ok, but perhaps there are some out there. That does not mean we follow them just because we like what they say. We follow the ruling with more PROOF.
I disagree that its not part of the deen. One other thing that is used to determine that we should not celebrate B-days is that it is an imitation of the disbelievers. The origins of it are pagan.
You might also want to read the post about doubtful matters, although I don't think this falls into doubt.. I think its clear.
May Allah guide you to the truth
May Allah reward you for your good deed
Jabed
celebrating birthdays and anyother unislamic festivity is bid'ah coz islam isnt only a religion basd on worship only but also our complete way of life be it domesic,official,social and so on. deen means complete way of lyf not only religion so fear Allah muslim brothers and sisters. May Allah guide us. Amin
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