All praise be to Allah and may His blessings and peace be on His last messenger, Muhammad,

The issue of celebrating recurrent feasts (‘eids) other than the two annual Muslim feasts is a controversial issue. Additionally, there are many different types of celebrations, and they are not all the same.

Firstly, someone may ask why would a religion forbid people from celebrating certain feasts, when such celebrations may make them happy? The answer to this is that feasts have been historically known to be symbolic of certain events or beliefs that are related to religion. You will find the most significant celebrations by every nation to be based in the religion of that nation. There is no doubt that Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, ‘Eid al-Adḥa, etc., are all based in religion. It is natural that God would want His people to maintain their identity and abstain from glossing over important distinctions between the religions, while earnestly seeking good relations with all people and extending kindness to all. Moreover, some feasts may be celebrations of concepts and behaviors that are offensive to the religion. Halloween may be a good example on such feasts.

Introduction

The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said,

(إِنَّ لِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ عِيدًا وَهَذَا عِيدُنَا).

“Every nation has a feast, and this is ours.” (Agreed upon)

This emphasizes the already established concept that most major celebrations are religious in origin.

There is another hadith where the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said,

(إنَّ الله أبْدَلَكُم بخَيرٍ مِنهُما: عِيدُ الأضْحَى وعِيدُ الفِطْر )

‘Allah has given you in their stead something better: Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.’ (Narrated by al-Nasâ’i)

This is his statement to the people of madinah regarding the feasts they celebrated before Islam. Notice “in their stead.” This hadith in particular is supportive of the prohibition of celebration of any ‘eids (public recurrent festivals) since they have been substituted for by Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.

Types of celebrations

There is no problem in non-recurrent celebrations, whether they are national, local, or family events.

Recurrent celebrations are not all the same. There are private ones like birthdays and wedding anniversaries, and there are public ones. The public celebrations could be clearly religious or not.

• Public Celebrations
• Religious celebrations of non-Muslims

Celebrating those clearly compromises one’s identity. Often the concept behind them is in disharmony with our Islamic teachings. How could we celebrate Easter for instance when we do not believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) was killed, crucified, or buried in the first place? We also do not believe that he was the son of God.

Not only that, but as Muslims, we are supposed to not celebrate religious feasts innovated by Muslims. The Messenger of Allah said,

 “مَنْ أَحْدَثَ فِي أَمْرِنَا هَذَا مَا لَيْسَ مِنْهُ فَهُوَ رَدٌّ.”

“He who innovates something in this matter of ours [i.e. Islam] that is not of it will have it rejected [by Allah]”. (Ag)

There is unanimity among the scholars that the religious feasts of non-Muslims may not be celebrated by Muslims. (See below for showing courtesy to family and friends who are non-Muslim on their feasts.)

• Non-religious celebrations

Many scholars prevented any celebration of recurrent public feasts aside from the two Muslim feasts. They cited the hadith mentioned above about them being substituted for by the two Muslim feasts. You should also ponder the fact that people cannot have too many ‘eids. ‘Eids other than al-Fitr and al-Adha will undoubtedly compete with those two. Moreover, the competition will not be fair when you have the other feasts convenient to celebrate because they are holidays, which is untrue for our ‘eids, which are often neglected when they fall on a weekday. We must not forget either that the Islamic feasts have great meanings which are celebrated. For instance ‘Eid al-Fitr is a celebration of success in the test of submission through Ramadan and ‘Eid al-Adha is commemorating Ibraheem’s example of sacrifice. Many of the other holidays have unwholesome concepts or at least they may be days revered by some and reviled by others. For example, many natives of America find it hard to celebrate Thanksgiving. Some may be pushed by the markets to get people to buy certain commodities, etc.

Having said all that, those non-religious feasts are harder to call their celebration haram due to the lack of religious symbolism in them. Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah bestow mercy on him defines ‘eid as “a name for a recurrent public gathering of a certain form, whether it recurs annually, monthly or weekly, that combines certain characteristics: 1- a recurrent day like ‘Eid al-Fiṭr and Jumu’ah, 2- a public gathering, 3- and the subsequent acts, which include acts of worship and other customs.” These celebrations do not contain any religious rituals and are not meant to be means to the pleasure of Allah. Additionally, the imitation that is forbidden is when one imitates non-Muslims concerning their religious practices or practices specific to particular religious groups. Some Muslims in Muslim majority countries are keen on importing all the Western celebrations. Those are not like the Western Muslims in this regard. Their importing of such customs may be an indication of cultural defeat and the feeling of inferiority. While celebrating some of those days may be permissible, it is safe though, due to the above concerns, to consider most of those celebrations makrooh. Such karahah is contingent upon the presence of any negative connotations and practices, or religious symbolism attached to those celebrations, which could result in their prohibition. Also, the karahah increases significantly if they compete with the two ‘Eids and take away from the people’s interest in them and longing for their arrival.

• Personal Celebrations

Personal recurrent celebrations are controversial. These would be like birthdays and wedding anniversaries. They are in a way competing with the two Islamic feasts of Fitr and Adha and in a way different, since they are not public celebrations. There is also some concern expressed by some scholars about them being an imitation of non-Muslims. However, as aforementioned, the imitation that is forbidden is when one imitates non-Muslims concerning their religious practices or practices specific to particular religious groups. Based on that, even if I personally like to avoid such celebrations because they are not part of our heritage, I find no substantial basis to say it is haram to celebrate them.

How to deal with family and friends

If it is a feast that you don’t celebrate, such as the non-Muslim religious feasts, here is what you may do:

You will need to make it clear that you are Muslim and Christmas and Easter, for instance, are not your feasts. If you do this wisely and kindly, I hope it will not bring about too much negativity. Having said that, there are social (and sometimes political) circumstances and considerations that make the complete avoidance of those celebrations quite difficult. Here are some scenarios that would not constitute a form of forbidden celebration:

• One may wish people well, and wish them to enjoy their vacation time or their family gathering or any other generic greetings and well-wishes. Being kind and treating all people with compassion every day of the year is an Islamic prescription for all of us.
• Accepting gifts from non-Muslims is the sunnah of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace), who also used to reciprocate with greater and more valuable gifts. This is in case the gift is not related directly to their rituals they have on that day. Imam Ibn Taymiyyah stated that it is permissible to accept the gifts of the non-Muslims on their feasts, and he mentioned a report from Ali, which indicates that he accepted the gift of some non-Muslims on the day of al-Nayrooz. ‘Ayisha was also asked about the Zoroastrians giving gifts to Muslims on their feast, and she said, whatever they slaughtered for the day, don’t eat it, but eat from their trees. (Reported by Ibn abi Shaybah.)
• You can use any personal, family or Islamic occasions close to the times of gift sharing to present your own gifts to family members and friends. They will eventually get used to your awkward timings!
• If everybody of your family will be coming home on this day, and you will not see your aunt who came from Florida to Wisconsin particularly for the 24^th and 25^th and will be going back early on the 26^th, then you may go visit your relatives, but avoid the peak times of celebration; you may keep yourself busy serving everybody, cleaning the kitchen for your mother, for example, or shoveling the snow! If you are kind to your family and neighbors throughout the year, some awkward behavior during those religious celebrations will be tolerated. However, one’s intent should be clear that they are joining their kin, not celebrating those feasts. The matter would be easier for Thanksgiving since it doesn’t involve times of any ritual symbolism.
• Having presented all those concessions, I must go back and caution that human beings are suggestible and emotional. They often follow their feelings against their sound judgment. The Shaytân will use those times and gatherings to remind new Muslims of the days of the past, and cause him/her trials in their religion, and possibly complete departure from it. There is nothing equal to safety.

May Allah give us the resolve to not compromise our religious commitment and the wisdom and compassion to win the hearts of all people.

Allah knows best.