In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We begin by praising Allah, sending blessings and salutations upon Muhammad. We ask the Almighty to bless him and his entire household; those who supported him from day one. And we ask Allah to bless all his companions as well as every single one of us and our offspring to come up to the day of Qiyāmah. My dear brothers and sisters in Islām, Assalamu Alaykum Warahmathullahi Wabarakatuhu.
I’d like to clarify some important things about the celebration of birthdays in Islam, this correction of mine is based on the hadith of Abu Sa`eed al-Khudree Radiyallahu Anhu where he said:
سَمِعْت رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه و سلم يَقُولُ: "مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِقَلْبِهِ، وَذَلِكَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِيمَانِ" . [رَوَاهُ مُسْلِمٌ].
I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say, “Whosoever of you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then [let him change it] with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith.” [Muslim]
First of all, let me clarify that Islam is a complete religion with no loopholes, the Muslims have no need to imitate anyone else in matters of religious rituals and acts of worship, because Allah himself says (Chapter 5 Verse 3):
ٱلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلْإِسْلَـٰمَ دِينًا ۚ
Today, I have perfected your religion for you, and have completed My blessing upon you, and chosen Islam as Dīn (religion and a way of life) for you.
So after the demise of the Prophet ﷺ whoever intends to add, reduce or alter something in the religion will be sinful and held accountable.
Jabir bin 'Abdullah said:
إِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْىِ هَدْىُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَشَرَّ الأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلاَلَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلاَلَةٍ فِي النَّارِ
The truest of words is the Book of Allah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ. The worst of things are those that are newly invented; every newly-invented thing is an innovation and every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire. Sunan an-Nasa'i and graded as sahih by Darussalam.
So based on all the aforementioned factors, a Muslim should always follow the laws of Islam over his own whims and desires, and not do things on the basis of his own temperament, whatever he finds pleasing and comfortable to his inclinations.
Islam prohibits Muslims to imitate the kuffaar, especially the Jews and Christians, in matters of their religion and things that are unique to them, by which they are known.
One such thing is birthdays.
Now, why are birthdays unique to non-Muslims? The earliest mention of birthdays according to religious scriptures, as far as we can know, dates back to the time of Firaun.
It's mentioned in the Old Testament, Genesis 40:20:
“Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials:”
According to the above verse, we can see that on the day of the pharaoh’s birthday, they had some kind of a celebration which included drinks and cakes.
So as far as we can find in historic records, those who started the tradition of birthday celebrations are the evil people who are the likes of pharaohs.
Where did all that cakes, candles and wishes come from? In the National Geographic Society's Uncommon History of Common Things, it's made mention of cakes being made and candles being lit as a religious ritual or tribute to some of their gods during the time of the ancient Greeks, which dates back to the 8th century BC.
It’s very clear that the celebration of birthdays was actually a form of a pagan religious ritual or worship in which the ancient Greeks engaged in. Congratulating someone else on the occasion of his birthday is like participating and cooperating in this innovation, and imitating the disbelievers. Thus it becomes haram for him to do anything related to birthdays, including wishing someone, cutting cakes, burning candles etc. How can we as Muslims engage in an occasion of this sort?
Some people when presented with the fact that we as Muslims cannot do anything related to birthdays based on the hadith narrated by Ibn ’Umar Radiyallahu Anhu that says,
قَالَ رَسُولُ اَللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم-: "مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِقَوْمٍ, فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ". أَخْرَجَهُ أَبُو دَاوُدَ, وَصَحَّحَهُ اِبْنُ حِبَّانَ.
“He who imitates any people (in their actions) is considered to be one of them.” Abu Dawud and Ibn Hibban graded it as Sahih.
They’d say, “Then what about the jeans and shirts that you’re wearing, isn’t that something that originated from the disbelievers, and doesn’t wearing those make you sinful?”
The simplest answer is “no” because things like jeans and shirts aren’t something related to religion, or religious-cultural factors, rather it’s something that is cultural and very prevalent in today’s society, not only among the disbelievers but also among every person in the world. Nowadays even aborigines have started to wear Denim and T-shirts. And the prohibition is only on religious matters and things that are unique to a nation.
Now someone could say that even birthdays have become so prevalent among everyone and it’s not unique to anyone. The answer is, as we analyzed earlier, birthdays are some form of a religious ritual, just because a religious ritual becomes prevalent among everyone doesn’t make it halal to engage in nor does it make it a cultural thing unlike the Jeans and shirts, which are not haram by origin, but can only be by how it’s used.
Another argument bought by these people is, “But there’s no direct evidence for the prohibition of birthdays in Islam”.
The answer is, “Then is there direct evidence from the Quran and Sunnah that prohibits smoking?” The prohibition in the Quran is only for intoxicants like wine etc. since smoking is some sort of an intoxicant it also comes under the prohibition. Likewise, birthdays aren’t directly prohibited but according to the Ijma, which means scholarly consensus based on the Quran and Sunnah, it’s prohibited.
The prohibition of birthdays is very clear based on the Quran and Sunnah, and the aforementioned analysis. If imitating a religious aspect of another nation, makes us from among them, then it’s as if we have renounced Islam as our religion, thus the celebration of birthdays becomes haram.
And according to other hadith, where it says that every newly innovated thing is an innovation and every innovation will ultimately lead to hellfire, we aren’t supposed to do any innovation which again means the celebration of birthdays becomes haram.
So imitation of the festivals of shirk and bid’ah, such as birthdays, whether it is the birthday of the Prophet ﷺ or the birthdays of presidents and kings, independence day, Mother’s Day, hygiene week, and other days or weeks that are celebrated, are all from the kuffaar.
Islam has only two celebratory festivals, namely Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Anything else is bid’ah and an imitation of the kuffaar.
Anas ibn Malik reported: When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to Medina, the people had two days on which they were celebrating. He asked: What are these two days? They said: We used to engage ourselves in celebration during these two days in the time of ignorance. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah has substituted for them something better than them, Eid al-Adha (the day of sacrifice) and Eid al-Fitr (the day of the breaking of the fast).
During these two festivals, we spread joy, entertain children etc. But more importantly, we indulge ourselves in the remembrance of Allah, celebrate and offer the eid prayer. So any other day that is allocated for a celebration out of the Islamic law is recognized as contrary to Islam, and we are not supposed to celebrate it. And whosoever indulges in it in one way or the other, like endorsing it, participating, cooperating, celebrating etc. shall be held accountable on the Day of Judgement.
Oh Allah! We ask you to guide us to and to increase us in knowledge and advance us in understanding. And we ask you to protect us from being misguided and led astray, our parents, our children, our family, and to be obedient to you in a manner that pleases you! And by your grace include us in the company of the rightly guided servants of yours who strived to seek your pleasure at all times and in all aspects of life! Jazakumullahu Khaira, Wassalamu Alaikum Warahmathullahi Wabarakathuhu.
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