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‘Happy’ Birthday?

MUHAMMAD AWAIS TAHIR

Muhammad.Awais.Tahir@gmail.com
 In the name of Allah the beneficent, the Merciful

‘Happy’ Birthday?
The social networking sites earn you a lot of birthday wishes because of the ‘upcoming-birthday’
notifications. Some people have mysterious reasons for not displaying their actually birth date. I had a unique
concern; I wanted to add 12th Ramadhan 1407 as my birth date, but as the widely used Gregorian calendar is every
where so I had to enter 10th May 1987. Like the past years lots of ‘happy birthday’ scraps, messages and wall-posts
are expected. Some people are afraid to ‘wish’ birthdays to the ‘Islamic’ people, for the response is not certain. The
strategy I used in the past few years was to reply with a simple ‘JazakAllah’ and a smiley to all the wishers, for I
valued their love but I wasn’t sure what to be ‘happy’ about. This year, I’ve decided to say it all.

I really feel that we should be closer to the Hijri Calendar than we actually are. The Lunar and the Solar
Calendar were both prevalent at the times of the Prophet Muhammad SAW and the Muslims adopted the Lunar
Calendar. The Lunar Calendar is approved in the Holy Quran as well: The number of months in the sight of Allah is
twelve (in a year)- so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are sacred: that
is the straight usage. (SURAH AT-TAWBA 9:36) . The Ramadhan, the Hajj, the Ayaam e Beedh’ (13th, 14th and 15th of
every lunar month) all are calculated according to the Lunar Calendar. Our glorious history has been written
according to the Lunar (Hijri) Calendar. Furthermore, it’s a fact that the months of the Gregorian calendar were
named after the pagan Gods. We cannot change the complete Gregorian calendar based world system in a day; that
will also happen when we have a global Islamic state (Insha’Allah), but for now, we can start commemorating our
birthdays according to the Hijri Calendar and that would be a really positive step.

Scholars have differed when giving a ruling on birthdays. As we know that in Islam ‘acts of worship’
(Ibaadaat) are prescribed and any thing other than the prescribed in worship would be termed as bid’ah (innovation)
and is not acceptable. As for the normal affairs (dealings, mu’amlaat), everything is lawful except for which we can
find clear cut prohibition in Qur’an and Hadith. Few scholars opine that for Muslims ‘celebrations’ are ‘prescribed’,
as Prophet Muhammad SAW forbade the ‘Ansaar’ from the celebrations that they had in the past and told them that
Islam has given you something better : Eid ul Adha and Eid ul Fitr (Reference: Sunan An Nasai, Authenticated by Al-
Albani in Silsilatul Ahadeeth us Saheeha). Others deem ‘birthdays’ to be a matter of dealings (mu’amlaat) so they
permit the celebration, for there is no clear-cut prohibition for it in Qur’an and Hadith.

It is important to discuss the issue of origin of birthday celebrations, when dealing with the topic. If the
pagan origin of Birthday celebrations is proved, then there will be no room left for its celebration. One can trace
back and find proofs for the pagan origin of candle-lighting, but nothing concrete can be said regarding the origin of
birthday celebrations in general. But the speculation regarding its pagan origin is there since long. Many of the
Christian and Jewish scholars also prohibit the celebration because of its pagan origin. Few Encyclopedias mention
that down to the fourth century the Christians rejected it labeling it a pagan custom. What seems more likely is that
the perception in the past in some societies of the world that we are in fight with nature would have lead to these
celebrations. When a year would pass people they would celebrate birthdays for their victory of the forces of nature.

Keeping the legal rulings aside, it seems pretty illogical to ‘celebrate’ birthdays. There is no legitimate reason
to be happy about. These ‘useless’ celebrations do-not coincide with the Islamic spirit. For us, every clock tick brings
us closer to our death. It’s a countdown. Celebrations and Entertainment are necessary for balanced life, and, hence
Islam has space for them. Prophet Muhammad SAW used to cut jokes, he took Sayyidah Aisha RA to see a wrestling
match, and he an a race with Sayyidah Aisha RA twice in his life. What is to be kept in mind is that Islam shunned all
the illogical traditions and customs of the past. It eliminated the superstitions, irrational beliefs and illogical festivals
and celebrations. Muslims have a distinguished personality. They do not do in Rome as the Romans do. They have a
rational approach to life. For us there is much more in life than mere entertainment and false pleasures. Even our
festivals (Eid) start with the Zikr of Allah SWT in Salat ul Eid. On the other hand, nowadays, our celebrations and
festivals are filled with Haram Stuff.

Prophet Muhammad SAW used to keep fast on Monday and he’d tell us that he was born on that day:
Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was asked about fasting on Monday, whereupon he said: It is (the
day) when I was born and revelation was sent down to me (SAHIH MUSLIM, KITAB AS SAWM). Furthermore, Qur’an
mentions the mercy of Allah SWT on Prophet Yahya and Prophet Isa on the day of his birth; And peace on him on the
day he was born, and on the day he dies, and on the day he is raised to life (SURAH MARYAM 19:15, FOR YAHYA AS).

So, what we ought to do is thank Allah SWT for his mercy on us by raising us in a Muslim family. We must
take it as an opportunity to do special Ibadah and du’aa for ourselves. We must have a quick recap of our past year
and see where we are heading. We must refresh the purpose of our creation. We must hold our selves accountable
before we are held accountable.

There is no time to relax, much still remains to be done;

You have yet to fully spread the light of God, the Only One

It often happens that we are finding opportunities to express our love for someone. Birthdays seem like an
excellent opportunity. In this hasty world, a really sincere person is one who does du’aa for you. So, I expect lots of
du’aas on my birthday. This is the gift I demand. A special du’aa that comes into my mind for birthdays is: ‘May the
mercy of Allah SWT be on you since your birth, to the day you die, and till you enter Paradise’.

And If I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth, that will help destroy the disease
spread in the world, then all the credit is due to Allah and only the mistakes have been mine. Ya Allah! I ask You,
Your Love and Love of Your Loved Ones. Ya Allah! Take some special service from this oridinary slave of Yours and
bless me with the Fiqh of Religion.

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