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Mother’s Day and Other Non-Muslim Celebrations

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed

Is it permissible to celebrate Mother’s Day and other celebrations that have become widespread but are originally from non-Muslims?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

What can be derived from the words of our imams is that celebrating these festivities, such as Mother’s Day, that are common today with non-Muslims and then spread to Muslim lands is:

· If, by celebrating them, one intends imitating the disbelievers or believes in the day’s exalted rank or, for example, that there will be additional reward in being good to one’s mother that day over other days, then it is a prohibited innovation.

· Similarly, if one does not believe the above but the celebration involves the prohibited, such as: listening to music, drinking alcohol, eating pork, and prohibited mixing between men and women, such as the uncovering of some nakedness (Ar. ‘awrah), then this is prohibited, as is obvious.

· As for if the celebration occurs without any of the mentioned prohibitions, there is no harm in it. Even though it is originally from the disbelievers, imitating disbelievers is only prohibited if the participant intends imitating them.

– Amjad Rasheed

(Translated by Moustafa Mounir Elqabbany)

السؤال: هل يجوز الاحتفال بعيد الأم وأعياد أخرى انتشرت لكن أصلها لغير المسلمين ؟ الجواب : الذي يؤخذ من كلام أئمتنا أن الاحتفالَ بهذه الأعياد المشهورة اليوم عند غير المسلمين ثم انتقلت إلى بلاد المسلمين كعيد الأم إن كان فاعلُها يَقصد التشبهَ بالاحتفال بها بالكفار أو كان يعتقد تعظيمَ ذلك اليوم أو زيادة أجر برّ الأم فيه مثلاً على غيره من الأيام فهو بدعةٌ محرمة ، وكذلك إن لم يعتقد ذلك لكن كان الاحتفالُ بها على وجهٍ محرمٍ كسماعِ الموسيقى وشربِ الخمر وأكلِ الخنـزير واختلاطِ الأجانب من الرجال بالنساء على وجهٍ محرمٍ كتكشفِ شيءٍ من العورات فكلُّ ذلك حرامٌ كما لا يخفى . أما إن وقع الاحتفال بذلك بلا شيء من المحذورات المذكورة فلا بأس به ؛ لأنه وإن كان أصلُها من الكفار فإن التشبه بالكفار لا يحرم إلا إن قصد الفاعلُ ذلك التشبه .

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

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