Haifaa Younis – Can Muslims Celebrate Thanksgiving
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the concept of Thanksgiving, a holiday in the fourth quarter of November, which is a popular holiday in many countries. The holiday is not a religious holiday, but rather a social holiday that everyone is off to. The speaker emphasizes the importance of thanking people for their success and staying away from the holiday.
AI: Summary ©
What is Thanksgiving by the way?
How many of you were born and raised
in this country?
So, what is Thanksgiving?
There was definitely a right to what the
sister said, but what is Thanksgiving?
It's a national holiday, right?
Why?
Ask the question.
Why we're off on Thursday?
To spend time with family.
That's not the original plan.
Okay, when did it start to become a
national holiday?
So, basically, there's two stories about it, right?
You will hear a story for, you know,
when there's two people see things differently and
everyone, but this one is, if you just
go to Wikipedia, come on, I mean, just
go to Wikipedia and put Thanksgiving.
All they will tell you it is a
holiday, right, in the about 18th century, where
it starts in, some says it starts in
Virginia, some said it starts in Massachusetts and
in Boston, right?
When the settlers came in, now there's nothing
about the genocide, right?
They had harvest and the harvest came out
very well.
So, they were thanking Allah.
It's thanks, it's shukr, thanking Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Why do we, why do they eat turkey
and corn?
Because it was started in Boston, Massachusetts, that's
their, that's what they eat.
That's the common food there.
So, if you read, you will hear all
this, but then you have to dig down
and then the massacre comes in and that's
in the 1600.
So, when they came, the settlers, who was
living here?
The Native Americans.
So, they had a treaty with them and
then they broke the treaty and 700 people
were killed in one day and they were
happy and thanking Allah for the victory.
So, there's two sides of it, okay?
So, there's two sides of it.
Number one, it's not a religious holiday because
this is very common question.
People ask, should we celebrate?
I said, what do you mean by celebrate,
right?
What do you mean by celebrate?
It's not a religious holiday, number one.
Number two, the concept of thanking is part
of our deen, right?
But we don't have a day for thanking.
We are, should be.
I love how we praise ourselves, thanking every
day.
Well, okay, maybe you and I'm talking about
myself.
Although Allah said it, Allah said it, very
few of my servants are grateful.
So, for me as a Muslim, the concept
of thanking Allah in one day is not
part of me.
This is not.
I should be grateful every day because and
I'm going to share with you some beautiful
things about shukr.
So, what do I do on Thursday?
The reason it is in the fourth or
the last Thursday of November, of course, related
to economy.
So, they can kick the holiday seasons of
shopping earlier and that's why there's a Black
Friday afterward.
Or Cyber Monday or whatever Tuesday.
Fine, okay, go on by.
It's not haram.
So far, what should I do on Thursday?
For us as Muslims, right?
Well, the reason we get together because, but
why?
Exactly, because everyone is off.
Schools are off.
Colleges are off.
People are traveling.
They come because it's a whole week.
They come and see their family.
So, if you take this, there's nothing wrong
with that.
The only thing maybe, I don't have to
do the turkey and whatever and whatever and
whatever.
I'm going to make it a dinner because
my family is here and but I need
to remind myself, am I thankful to Allah,
right?
And I need to remember the injustice, the
word genocide should resonate with us these days,
right?
So, imagine 400 years from now, people will
say 2023, 2024, right?
40 plus thousand people were killed.
Those were 700.
So, now for me as a Muslim, this
is how you, and you don't say everything
is haram or everything is okay.
Analyze it.
Think of it.
If it's, this is how even when you
come to the Tafsir of the Quran, especially
Tafsir Ibn Kathir, there's something called Isra'iliyat,
which is stories from then in Israel.
What's our position towards them?
If they go parallel, agree with what we
believe in, you take it.
And if it does not, you don't, right?
So, we don't celebrate Christmas.
That's for sure.
Why?
Because we don't even believe he was born
in December.
He was born in summer because Allah told
her, shake the palm tree.
When does the dates come?
When does the dates become ripe?
It's not in the winter, right?
It's in the summer.
So, for me, I don't celebrate Christmas itself.
And also, it is a religious duty.
I mean, religious holiday.
Of course, everything is becoming commercial, unfortunately.
But for me, Thanksgiving, okay, I need to
remind myself three things.
Number one, the concept of being grateful.
The concept of injustice and genocide.
And then, take care of your family.
So, when I'm getting together, because I have
this question, and this is actually why one
of the reasons, because somebody, she said, I
got invited and they say, it is Thanksgiving.
Should I go?
That's what the question I got.
And I was like, what is Thanksgiving?
This is how it is.
You analyze what it is.
What is your intention?
I got someone invited me for dinner.
I'm going to go.
Why is it Thursday?
Because everybody's off.
Right?
All my family is coming.
But I wouldn't specify, again, Turkey and whatever
and whatever, because this may be related to
the new genocide.
Right?
And I stay away from it.