Did you know? (Inspirational Islamic Stories)

Not permissible for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim

Halloween????

We need to educate ourselves and teach our children the origins of Halloween.

A quick backstory:

Halloween first originated from the ancient Celtic festivals. It was part of the end of the year celebration known as "Samhain". The Celts, which lived in now modern-day Ireland, UK and northern France, would celebrate the New Years on November 1st. This day marked the end of summer and the beginning of a long, cold, dark winter. So New Year's Eve would be the night of October 31st where everything began. It was known as All Hallows Eve. On this evening, it was believed that evil spirits would be resurrected from their graves and go around haunting the townspeople.

Since winter was a frightening, dark and uncertain time, food supplies would sometimes run short, so on All Hallows Eve, the townspeople would be terrified to go out in fear of encountering ghosts. So, in order to get rid of and protect themselves from these evil spirits, the townspeople would disguise themselves in costumes and light up bonfires in order to confuse the evil spirits and avoid being recognized. This way, they are mistaken as fellow ghosts. Bowls of food would also be placed right outside of their homes to please the evil spirits and prevent them from entering the homes.

By time, different practices of this night gradually evolved. All Hallows Eve eventually became known as Halloween. This night became a night of public events, sharing ghost stories with one another, dancing and singing… In the second half of the 19th century, new immigrants (mostly the millions of Irish escaping famine) flooded America and later on, helped nationally popularize the Halloween celebration. It is now a night of fun, trick-or-treating, gatherings, eating sweets and partying. In replacement of bone fires, people would crave pumpkins into jack o lanterns.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) warned us about when he said:

"You will follow the ways of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (i.e., inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a lizard, you would follow them." We said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! (Do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?" He said, "Whom else?" (Bukhari 7320)

🚫 *Celebrating Halloween* 🚫

Imitating kuffar and celebrating their festivals both are forbidden.

⭕ The Prophet (ﷺ) said: *"He who copies any people is one of them."* (Sunan Abi Dawud 4034 | Hasan Sahih)

⭕ The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said: *"It is not permissible (lawful) for a muslim that he frightens a fellow muslim."* (Sunan Abi Dawud 5004 | Sahih)