First of all, we do not consider these ceremonies as an obligatory part of religion and we don't believe that avoiding them is unlawful (haram). But as we celebrate our darlings' birthday, we also celebrate the birthday of our prophet, his household, and even the anniversary of the day of Mab'ath. In this way, we thank God and show our love to the prophet, his family and Qur'an.

This issue is not only forbidden (Haram) in Islam, but also we have reasons in Qur'an that confirm it. These ceremonies are reverence and respect to the prophets and saints of religion as we have in surah HAJ verse 32:"

"مَنْ يُعَظِّمْ شَعائِرَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّها مِنْ تَقْوَى الْقُلُوبِ":

"Respecting the rites of Allah represents the purity of heart and the state of piety of the pilgrim." And our prophet, his household and the day of mab'ath are all signs of Allah and we know it as our duty to respect them and thank God for the sake of them. Or about our prophet, we have in surah A'araf, verse 157 :

"....فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِهِ وَ عَزَّرُوهُ وَ نَصَرُوهُ وَ اتَّبَعُوا النُّورَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ مَعَهُ أُولئِكَ هُمُ

الْمُفْلِحُونَ‏."

So those who believe in him and honour him, and help him, [in Allah's Way] and follow the light which has been sent down with him, they are indeed the ones who receive salvation."

Believing, helping, and respecting him does not belong just to his age, but in all times these issues should be considered. Taking part in these ceremonies, we announce and renew our royalty (bay'at) to him and his path. When we hold a ceremony for one of the households of Rasul of Allah(pbuh), in fact we act according to the verse 23 of surah Shura:

"قُلْ لا أَسْئَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْراً إِلَّا الْمَوَدَّةَ فِي القربی"

Say [O, Messenger!]: "No wage I ask you for my mission, but all I expect is the affection to my near kin."

In this way we show our love and respect to his household.

To explain more, let's see what we do in these ceremonies?

Usually, a lecturer is invited to speak about our prophet or his  household, their characteristics, behavior, sayings, and their attitudes in different situations of their lives as it is mentioned in the history of Islam. Which of these do you think is against Islam or Qur'an?

In ceremony days, helping the poor, giving gifts and being kind to each other is a custom. Are these forbidden or recommended in Qur'an?

What do you think if the prophet of Islam were here among us and see people doing such activities, would he appreciate or punish these people?

We also have funeral ceremonies. One of them is the anniversary of martyrdom of Imam Hussein(the nephew of Rasul of Allah (pbuh) and his men in Moharram. Holding this ceremony, we remind the muslims that the nephew of our prophet and his men were called  nonmuslims and killed in a  horrible way by the caliphate of muslims who claimed he was the successor of the prophet. This is exactly the reason why some apparently Islamic governments oppose against us and  call us polytheist(moshrek). These ceremonies act as a warning for muslims of the world to be more careful and not follow those who think are landlord of the muslims but for the sake of power and their own material benefits they are ready to kill even innocent baby muslims as you see in Yemen.

Of course, those who claim birthday celebration is forbidden (haram) in Islam, beforehand had said that using  telephone and telegram is haram and against the sunnah and then they themselves had to use it and commit this "haram"! Recently, they have given Fatwa(Islamic decree) that if a man becomes very hungry and   finds nothing to eat is allowed to eat some or all body of his wife! Would you ever really think of acting according to such a decree?

Meanwhile, our prophet didn't perform or use a lot of things from new technology . He never travelled by airplane, never used TV, mobile, Internet. Can we say they are haram because our prophet didn't use them?

Moreover, reviving the history of Islam, these ceremonies make our new generation more familiar with Qur'an, Islam and the prophet. It is a suitable program to confront the cultural attack against our youth by nonmuslims.

At the end, These ceremonies strengthen and stabilize the values of faith and moral foundations. Remembering the prophets, saints, martyrs, truthful and sincere followers of the school of  the prophets, faith, piety, jihad and their sacrifices and how they attempted to perform the divine revelation is a strong incentive to make people follow them and consider them as a pattern in their life.

After all, we ask Allah to guide all of us to the right path.

By: z.khodaparast