Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

 

In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-giving.

 

All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.

 

Contemporary scholars have different opinions concerning the permissibility of celebrating such international days borrowed from non-Islamic cultures. To better understand the issue, we need to keep in mind the following point:

 

When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Medina, the people there had two days on which they engaged in games. He asked, “What are these two days?” They said, “We used to engage ourselves on them in the pre-Islamic period.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Allah has substituted for them better two days: the day of sacrifice (Eidul Adha) and the day of breaking of the fast (Eidul fitr).” [Abu Dawoud] The narration mentions no acts of worship in these two days and the only practice reported is the games and entertainment they observed therein. Nevertheless, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbad them to observe these two days; simply because dedicating certain days to be venerated and certain practices to be done therein, is only for the shari`ah. In this context we remark also that such great events as Muslims’ victory in the battle of Badr or the conquest of Mecca were not observed by the Messenger of Allah or his companions as annual festivals. So, why should we follow others in their celebrations and festivals?

 

We need to ask ourselves: Why should we observe such international days? Is there any specific significance for this specific day? In fact, such issues always arise when non-Muslims create an event and observe it as a regular festival, which indicates how Muslims feel inferior and only act as followers to others. The question comes because we (Muslims) do not want to look “different” from others.

 

Our duties toward women, parents, teachers, etc. are parts of Islamic teachings that all Muslims have to observe. On the other hand, these international days have stories behind their specific dates as many of them have come as reactions to previous injustices or prejudices. So, why should we imitate others? In a number of hadiths the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade Muslims to imitate and follow the footsteps of non-Muslims.

 

Almighty Allah knows best.