Saad Tasleem – Halloween

Saad Tasleem
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the issue of "imitation" in Islam, where individuals are supposed to be non-Muslim and not allowed to wear clothing that is not specific to their culture. The importance of good clothing for helping people in need and bringing their culture back to their own is emphasized. The speakers also discuss the history of Halloween, a Christian holiday, and the importance of educating people on empathy and connecting with people in order to achieve success. They stress the need to be gentle with people and not be harsh with them, and encourage people to participate in live events and ask general questions.
AI: Transcript ©
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Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wassalamu ala rasoolillah, assalamu alaikum

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warahmatullahi wabarakatuh to everyone.

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So the way this is going to go,

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the way we're going to have the session

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today is I'm going to do a fairly

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brief and I'm going to try and keep

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it concise introduction.

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I'm going to give you my reasoning why

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I don't celebrate Halloween.

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I'll break down the issue and then we'll

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have a discussion.

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So if you think of some questions while

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I'm speaking, you can post them.

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And then we'll take it from there.

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I'll try to do it first come first

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serve.

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So whoever asks the question first, I'll address

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that question first.

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Inshallah.

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All right, Bismillah, let's get started.

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Why I don't celebrate Halloween.

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Now, this issue before we get into Halloween,

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it's a couple other issues that we need

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to break down.

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And I don't want to get too technical

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here.

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And I know sometimes people get bored with

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technicalities.

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So I'm going to try and like I

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said, keep it as concise as possible.

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But we have to first go back to

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the issue of imitation, imitation of other religions,

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imitation of other nations.

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This is a principle which is well known

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in Islam, that it is not permissible for

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us to imitate other nations or other peoples.

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Now, what does that exactly mean?

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Well, that is what we're going to break

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down, inshallah.

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So first of all, this comes from the

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hadith of the Prophet ﷺ.

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One of other hadith is not just one

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hadith.

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In fact, people think if you quote one

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hadith, they think there's only one hadith regarding

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this issue.

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There's not only one hadith.

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But this is the main hadith regarding this

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issue.

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Hadith of Ibn Umar mentioned in Abu Dawud

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in which the Prophet ﷺ said, مَن تَشَبَّهَ

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بِقَوْمٍ فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ Meaning, whoever imitates a nation,

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whoever imitates a people, then they are from

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them.

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Now, why is that serious?

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Why is that a big deal?

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Well, when the Prophet ﷺ says, فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ,

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they're from them, it means they're not from

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us, right?

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So a person can no longer attribute themselves

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to the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ.

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And so that is the meaning here.

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That's why it's such a big deal when

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the Prophet ﷺ says that they're from them,

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meaning they're not from us, they're from them.

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And that is why this is a very

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serious matter.

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Now, once again, what exactly are we talking

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about when we talk about imitation or emulating

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or copying or resembling another nation?

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Now, our scholars break this down into two

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categories.

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Number one, there is that type of imitation

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that is being referred to in this hadith,

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which is the haram type, the prohibited type

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of imitation, which is not allowed.

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Then there is a type of imitation which

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is permissible.

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And we're going to break that down as

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well, inshaAllah.

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A lot of times people have this misconception

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that all imitation is bad.

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Any type of imitation of non-Muslims is

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something which is bad.

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Some people have this misconception that all type

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of imitation is bad, and that is not

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the case.

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There is a type of imitation that is

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bad.

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What is that type of imitation?

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Well, first of all, even among the type

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of imitation, there is imitation that is, or

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I should say among the prohibited type of

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imitation, there is imitation that is much worse.

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And that is imitation where a person desires

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to be non-Muslim.

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So in their heart, they desire to be

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like non-Muslims to the level that they

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don't want to be Muslim.

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They think other religions are better than Islam.

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And so this is the type of person,

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may Allah protect us, the type of person

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who may be Muslim just by title.

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So maybe a person is, they are born

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in a Muslim household, and because everyone else

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in their house is Muslim, they're like, yeah,

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I guess I'm Muslim as well.

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But in their heart, they're not really Muslim.

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They would rather be non-Muslim, maybe because

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non-Muslims have certain things that they desire.

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So this could be certain sins or whatever

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a person wants to drink and do drugs

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or whatever other things that a person may

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see that non-Muslims do, and they desire

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that in their heart.

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And so there is this level of kufr,

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this level of disbelief in their heart, may

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Allah protect us.

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This is the severe type of imitation.

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Then there is imitation where a person is

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Muslim, but they imitate non-Muslims in those

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matters which are haram or impermissible.

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And they may imitate non-Muslims in sins.

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So this doesn't make a person not Muslim,

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they're still Muslim, but what they're doing is

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haram or impermissible.

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So in general, this is the impermissible type

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of imitation.

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Now, we said there's impermissible, and then there's

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permissible imitation, the allowed imitation.

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This is the imitation, once again, you know,

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we talked about two levels, the impermissible.

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In the permissible type of imitation, there's also

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two levels.

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The first is the imitation which is allowed,

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right, which is simply allowed is mubah, is

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something which is permissible.

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This would be imitating non-Muslims in things

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that are not associated with their faith.

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There are no religious beliefs attached to it.

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This is imitating non-Muslims in things that

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are not identifiers or things that are specific

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to non-Muslims.

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So, for example, there are certain things that

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only a non-Muslim would do, and they

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can be identified by it.

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So, for example, wearing a cross, right?

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So, wearing a cross is something that not

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only is it specific to non-Muslims, it

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is something that they're identified by.

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So, if you see someone wearing a cross,

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you're not going to say, well, I don't

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know if they're Christian or Muslim or whatever.

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You're going to automatically be like, only a

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Christian would wear a cross, right?

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So, this is the type of clothing or

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whatever this action is specific to them.

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So, the permissible type of imitation is other

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than that, right?

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So, for example, the style of clothing, as

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long as it fulfills the Islamic conditions of

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clothing, the style of clothing is not defined

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in Islam, right?

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And so, our style of clothing really goes

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back to our culture.

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We see the Prophet ﷺ dressed according to

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the clothing of his people, right?

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So, it wasn't that, subhanAllah, the message of

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Islam came and the Prophet ﷺ started to

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wear different clothing, right?

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He changed his clothing.

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He said, okay, now I'm Muslim, I'm going

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to wear different clothing.

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No, he wore what the people of his

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time, the people in his culture wore, and

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that is why if you were to go

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back, if you were to somehow be able

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to look at the Prophet ﷺ in that

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time, let's say you were to show up

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on the day of the Battle of Badr,

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on one side you have the mushrikun, the

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non-Muslims, on the other side you have

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the Muslims.

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From a visual standpoint, it would be hard

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to tell the difference between the two, between

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the non-Muslims and the Muslims because they

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were wearing pretty much the same clothing, right?

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So, this is the type of imitation that,

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once again, is not specific to a faith.

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It is not specific that only non-Muslims

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wear this particular type of clothing or they're

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identified by that.

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This comes under that which is allowed.

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Then there is the type of imitation that

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not only is it allowed, it is something

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which is recommended, something which is preferred, and

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this is imitating non-Muslims in the goodness

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that they do.

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As long as it is not, there isn't

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any beliefs attached to it as long as

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it's not a part of their faith, meaning

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it is an identifying matter in their faith.

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And obviously, when we say goodness, we mean

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goodness as in it is good, you know,

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as defined by society, but more importantly it

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is goodness as defined by Islam as well.

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I'll give you a very clear example of

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this.

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Let's say down the street there's a church

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and every Sunday they go and feed the

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homeless.

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And the Muslims, let's say the masjid down

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the street says, you know, the Christians in

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the church, they feed the homeless every Sunday.

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That's something which is good, right?

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And so, Islamically, is feeding people good?

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Absolutely.

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Is helping those who are in need good?

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Absolutely.

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Did we get the idea from them in

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this case?

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Yeah.

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Does that make it okay?

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Absolutely.

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Not only is it okay, it is something

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which is recommended that we see them doing

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something good and we want to imitate them

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in that goodness.

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Maybe we say we're going to do it

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on Friday or they're already taking care of

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Sunday, we'll pick Friday, right?

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The day of Jum'ah, or we have

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Jum'ah anyway, so we'll do it on

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the day of Jum'ah.

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So imitating non-Muslims in something which is

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good, something that they do which is good.

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As we said, goodness in society, but more

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importantly, goodness as defined by the Shari'ah,

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defined by Islam as well.

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Now, in all of this, one of the

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factors that needs to be understood that one

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of the goals of our faith, one of

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the goals of our Deen, is that we

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should be proud of who we are.

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And we should not have an inferiority complex.

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And that is a very important aspect of

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our Deen, because there are some matters that

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we may have in our Deen that go

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against the norm, right?

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And so, if it is something which is

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good in Islam, then we should be doing

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it, right?

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For example, I'll give you an example of

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this.

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Eating with the right hand.

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Now, this is something which is, in terms

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of the Shari'ah, in terms of Islam,

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in terms of an Islamic ruling, it is

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something which is recommended, right?

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It is something which is mustahab, to eat

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with the right hand.

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And it is, on the flip side, it

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is makruh, it is disliked to eat with

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the left hand.

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Now, this may not be the norm in

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the society that we live in, right?

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So, in the society we live in, you

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know, and this is what I've seen at

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least, and Allah knows best, if you're right

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-handed, you would do right, if you're left

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-handed, you would do left.

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Now, out of having, being proud in our

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Deen would mean that even if, you know,

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let's say we're left-handed, and we're left

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-handed, and subhanAllah, normally society dictates that if

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you're left-handed, you eat with your left,

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that we say, no, in Islam, it is

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recommended that we eat with our right, even

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if we're left-handed, so we take pride

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in that, right?

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And we find, we say that that is

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something honorable in Islam, even though it goes

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against the norm, right?

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So, that is something to keep in mind

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when it comes to imitation and this issue

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as a whole.

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Now, Halloween, where does Halloween fit in?

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Halloween comes under imitation.

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Which category?

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Permissible or non-permissible?

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Spoiler alert, it comes under the impermissible type

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of imitation.

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Why?

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Well, specifically, it comes under the issue of

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holidays, and, you know, imitating non-Muslims in

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their faith, in their beliefs, in certain traditions

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that are specific to them, that would not

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be considered a Muslim belief, or Muslim tradition,

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or Muslim holiday.

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Now, there is a hadith that gives us

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some clarity on this issue, the hadith of

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Anas radiAllahu anhu, in which Anas radiAllahu anhu

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says that when the Prophet came to Medina,

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the people of Medina, they had two holidays

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that they would celebrate.

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Basically, they would, you know, celebrate, they would

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have fun, they would have these games that

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they would play to celebrate this day, and

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the Prophet ﷺ, he said, what is, what

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is, what are these two holidays?

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And they replied, the Prophet ﷺ said, مَا

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هَذَانَ الْيَوْمَانِ He said, what are these two

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days?

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And they said, كُنَّ نَلْعَبُ فِيهَا فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ

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They said, these are two days that we

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celebrated in Jahiliyyah.

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And then the Prophet ﷺ, he said, إِنَّ

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اللَّهَ قَدْ أَبْدَلَكُمْ بِهِمَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُمَا He said,

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certainly Allah has replaced these two days with

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two days that are better than them, يَوْمَ

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الْأَطْحَى وَيَوْمَ الْفِطَرِ The day of Adha and

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the day of Fitr, the day of sacrifice

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and the day of the breaking of the

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fast.

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And this is what for us, we now

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know and understand as Eid al-Adha and

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Eid al-Fitr.

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So this hadith tells us a few things,

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and this is an authentic hadith mentioned in

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Abu Dawood al-Nasa'i.

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It tells us a few things.

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First of all, it tells us that in

00:13:10 --> 00:13:13

Islam, we have our own holidays, right?

00:13:13 --> 00:13:14

So there are holidays that are specific to

00:13:14 --> 00:13:15

Islam.

00:13:16 --> 00:13:19

Second, we learned that these holidays that were

00:13:19 --> 00:13:23

being celebrated were actually religious holidays.

00:13:23 --> 00:13:26

They're not cultural holidays.

00:13:26 --> 00:13:31

They are not holidays that are part of,

00:13:31 --> 00:13:33

they're not national holidays, they are religious holidays.

00:13:34 --> 00:13:38

And so Allah replaced religious holidays with Islamic

00:13:38 --> 00:13:40

religious holidays, right?

00:13:40 --> 00:13:43

So we have, when it comes to, another

00:13:43 --> 00:13:45

way to say that is spiritual holidays, meaning

00:13:45 --> 00:13:49

holidays that are related to our faith.

00:13:49 --> 00:13:52

Holidays through which we get closer to Allah.

00:13:52 --> 00:13:55

Celebrations through which we get closer to Allah.

00:13:55 --> 00:13:57

This is what we mean when we say

00:13:57 --> 00:13:59

religious or spiritual holidays.

00:13:59 --> 00:14:03

In Islam, when it comes to spiritual holidays

00:14:03 --> 00:14:06

or religious holidays, we only have two.

00:14:07 --> 00:14:08

We have Eid al-Adha and Eid al

00:14:08 --> 00:14:09

-Fitr.

00:14:09 --> 00:14:11

Any other day where a person says, you

00:14:11 --> 00:14:15

know, I'm getting close to Allah, by celebrating

00:14:15 --> 00:14:18

on this day, we say, sorry man, that's

00:14:18 --> 00:14:18

not in Islam.

00:14:19 --> 00:14:20

We only have these two days, Eid al

00:14:20 --> 00:14:22

-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.

00:14:22 --> 00:14:25

We celebrate, meaning celebrate as in celebration that

00:14:25 --> 00:14:26

brings us closer to Allah.

00:14:28 --> 00:14:29

These are only two.

00:14:30 --> 00:14:32

Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.

00:14:32 --> 00:14:34

So any other holiday where a person claims

00:14:34 --> 00:14:36

that they're getting closer to Allah, that it

00:14:36 --> 00:14:38

is something which is recommended, you know, in

00:14:38 --> 00:14:41

Islam in terms of their faith, then that

00:14:41 --> 00:14:44

is not permissible other than these two days.

00:14:44 --> 00:14:47

And so looking at this, we can break

00:14:47 --> 00:14:49

down any holiday into two categories.

00:14:50 --> 00:14:53

Either it's a religious holiday, it's a spiritual

00:14:53 --> 00:14:57

holiday, or it is other than that, meaning

00:14:57 --> 00:15:00

it is either a cultural holiday or it

00:15:00 --> 00:15:02

is a holiday that is maybe a national

00:15:02 --> 00:15:03

holiday.

00:15:03 --> 00:15:06

And so when it comes to religious holidays,

00:15:06 --> 00:15:09

then not only do we only have two,

00:15:09 --> 00:15:11

also we're not allowed to take part and

00:15:11 --> 00:15:14

celebrate any religious holiday.

00:15:14 --> 00:15:17

Holidays that have any beliefs attached to it.

00:15:17 --> 00:15:20

And from our perspective, any superstitions attached to

00:15:20 --> 00:15:22

it, we're not allowed to celebrate it.

00:15:22 --> 00:15:23

That's one.

00:15:23 --> 00:15:26

On the other hand, we also have holidays

00:15:26 --> 00:15:29

that are impermissible because of the practices that

00:15:29 --> 00:15:30

take place.

00:15:30 --> 00:15:33

So let's say there is a place in

00:15:33 --> 00:15:36

the world, it's hypothetical, where they have a

00:15:36 --> 00:15:38

holiday, it's not a religious holiday, it's a

00:15:38 --> 00:15:40

cultural holiday, it's a national holiday.

00:15:41 --> 00:15:43

But on that holiday, they go around slapping

00:15:43 --> 00:15:44

people in the face, right?

00:15:45 --> 00:15:47

Now, we would say, well, this is not

00:15:47 --> 00:15:49

a religious holiday, so it should be permissible,

00:15:49 --> 00:15:50

right?

00:15:50 --> 00:15:52

There's no beliefs attached to it, so it

00:15:52 --> 00:15:52

should be permissible.

00:15:52 --> 00:15:55

We would say, no, it's not permissible because

00:15:55 --> 00:15:57

what is being done on this holiday is

00:15:57 --> 00:15:58

wrong.

00:15:58 --> 00:16:01

Islamically, it is wrong to harm other people,

00:16:01 --> 00:16:02

to slap somebody, right?

00:16:02 --> 00:16:03

That's wrong.

00:16:03 --> 00:16:05

So from that perspective, we don't celebrate it.

00:16:05 --> 00:16:08

Now, bringing all of the information that I've

00:16:08 --> 00:16:10

just given to you and applying it and

00:16:10 --> 00:16:14

looking at the holiday of Halloween, we find

00:16:14 --> 00:16:17

that it is impermissible according to the vast

00:16:17 --> 00:16:17

majority of scholars.

00:16:18 --> 00:16:20

And that is why I don't celebrate it.

00:16:20 --> 00:16:23

I don't take part in it for both

00:16:23 --> 00:16:23

reasons.

00:16:23 --> 00:16:27

Not only is it a religious holiday, it

00:16:27 --> 00:16:29

has beliefs attached to it, it has a

00:16:29 --> 00:16:30

religious origin.

00:16:31 --> 00:16:34

It is also impermissible in the sense of

00:16:34 --> 00:16:37

there are impermissible things that take place on

00:16:37 --> 00:16:39

this holiday.

00:16:39 --> 00:16:40

I'm going to give you a little bit

00:16:40 --> 00:16:43

of background on Halloween just to have you

00:16:43 --> 00:16:47

understand why Halloween is impermissible.

00:16:47 --> 00:16:50

So first of all, the origin of Halloween

00:16:50 --> 00:16:54

is actually a, it's a pagan holiday.

00:16:55 --> 00:16:59

I know today, subhanAllah, there are Christians who

00:16:59 --> 00:17:01

celebrate Halloween and it's thought of as a

00:17:01 --> 00:17:02

Christian holiday.

00:17:02 --> 00:17:06

That is because it was brought into Christianity.

00:17:06 --> 00:17:10

So originally, it was a pagan, a European

00:17:10 --> 00:17:15

pagan holiday in which, you know, certain things,

00:17:15 --> 00:17:16

they would, a lot of traditions, which are

00:17:16 --> 00:17:18

actually now, they've been brought back into the

00:17:18 --> 00:17:19

holiday.

00:17:19 --> 00:17:20

We'll talk about that in a little bit.

00:17:21 --> 00:17:27

But as Catholicism spread, they adopted this holiday

00:17:27 --> 00:17:29

and they made it into a Christian holiday.

00:17:30 --> 00:17:32

And so it was celebrated, and there's other

00:17:32 --> 00:17:35

names for it, All Hallows' Eve, All Saints'

00:17:35 --> 00:17:39

Eve, Eve of All Hallows' Day, All Saints'

00:17:40 --> 00:17:42

Day, all this is brought into Christianity.

00:17:43 --> 00:17:46

So this was a day in Christianity where

00:17:46 --> 00:17:49

they would, starting on the 31st of October,

00:17:49 --> 00:17:53

which is today, where they would remember their

00:17:53 --> 00:17:55

saints, they would remember the dead, they would

00:17:55 --> 00:17:56

remember the faithful.

00:17:56 --> 00:17:58

And so it was very much, it became

00:17:58 --> 00:18:01

a part of Christianity, even though the origin

00:18:01 --> 00:18:02

that is pagan.

00:18:02 --> 00:18:04

And it is because of that, because of

00:18:04 --> 00:18:07

its pagan origin, that there are actually some

00:18:07 --> 00:18:09

Christians today who don't celebrate Halloween.

00:18:09 --> 00:18:12

Because they say, look, this is, in Christianity,

00:18:12 --> 00:18:13

it's a bid'ah.

00:18:14 --> 00:18:16

Like in Christianity, it is something that has

00:18:16 --> 00:18:17

been brought into Christianity, right?

00:18:17 --> 00:18:19

So they're like, this is a Christian, this

00:18:19 --> 00:18:20

is a bid'ah, we don't celebrate it,

00:18:20 --> 00:18:22

because it's not Christian.

00:18:22 --> 00:18:24

Actually, it was brought into Christianity later.

00:18:24 --> 00:18:26

And so there are some Christians, and you

00:18:26 --> 00:18:28

may know some people like this, who don't

00:18:28 --> 00:18:29

celebrate Halloween, because they say, look, there's not

00:18:29 --> 00:18:31

a Christian holiday, it was brought into Christianity.

00:18:32 --> 00:18:34

And subhanAllah, as Muslims, that should be a

00:18:34 --> 00:18:35

lesson for us.

00:18:35 --> 00:18:36

We don't want it to become a holiday

00:18:36 --> 00:18:38

that is brought into Islam, right?

00:18:38 --> 00:18:40

So yeah, and we don't want to say,

00:18:40 --> 00:18:42

we don't want to import something into Islam,

00:18:43 --> 00:18:44

and try to make excuses for it and

00:18:44 --> 00:18:46

say, you know, whatever excuses people make.

00:18:46 --> 00:18:48

So that's a lesson for us.

00:18:49 --> 00:18:53

A lot of these traditions that take place,

00:18:53 --> 00:18:55

for example, trick-or-treating, obviously, that's the

00:18:55 --> 00:18:56

big one.

00:18:57 --> 00:18:59

This comes from a practice known as soul

00:18:59 --> 00:19:00

-laying, right?

00:19:00 --> 00:19:02

Soul, as in the soul, the ruh, the

00:19:02 --> 00:19:02

nafs.

00:19:03 --> 00:19:06

This is a tradition where poor people would

00:19:06 --> 00:19:08

go from door to door, and they would

00:19:08 --> 00:19:11

sing, and they would do prayers.

00:19:11 --> 00:19:16

And in response to that, people would give

00:19:16 --> 00:19:17

them some food.

00:19:17 --> 00:19:18

So they would give them sweets, they would

00:19:18 --> 00:19:21

give them cakes, when they would pray for

00:19:21 --> 00:19:23

them, basically, make some prayers, sing some prayers.

00:19:24 --> 00:19:26

And this slowly, you know, has been turned

00:19:26 --> 00:19:28

into this tradition of trick-or-treating.

00:19:29 --> 00:19:33

Interestingly enough, there was a lot more Christian

00:19:33 --> 00:19:37

overtones to this holiday, until capitalism got involved.

00:19:37 --> 00:19:41

So when capitalism came into the picture, basically,

00:19:41 --> 00:19:42

they're like, how do we make money off

00:19:42 --> 00:19:43

of this holiday?

00:19:43 --> 00:19:46

Then more of the pagan traditions were brought

00:19:46 --> 00:19:47

into this holiday.

00:19:47 --> 00:19:51

So the tradition of celebrating the dead, leaning

00:19:51 --> 00:19:57

more towards the horror aspect of it, making

00:19:57 --> 00:20:01

it scary, you know, demons and ghouls and

00:20:01 --> 00:20:03

this and that, because it was a chance

00:20:03 --> 00:20:05

to make money off of this holiday.

00:20:05 --> 00:20:07

And a lot of these holidays now are

00:20:07 --> 00:20:08

really just about making money, right?

00:20:09 --> 00:20:10

So that's why a lot of these traditions,

00:20:11 --> 00:20:12

a lot of the pagan traditions that were

00:20:12 --> 00:20:17

initially taken out by Christianity, have been brought

00:20:17 --> 00:20:19

back into this holiday.

00:20:19 --> 00:20:20

And once again, it's another reason why some

00:20:20 --> 00:20:22

Christians today don't celebrate Halloween.

00:20:22 --> 00:20:24

They're like, you know what, even the traditions

00:20:24 --> 00:20:25

have become pagan traditions.

00:20:26 --> 00:20:29

Nobody is, you know, singing songs of worship

00:20:29 --> 00:20:30

and so on and so forth.

00:20:30 --> 00:20:32

People are just dressing up as, you know,

00:20:32 --> 00:20:34

demons and ghouls and things like that.

00:20:34 --> 00:20:36

And that's a pagan tradition.

00:20:36 --> 00:20:38

So we don't want to have any part

00:20:38 --> 00:20:39

of it.

00:20:39 --> 00:20:42

So that as a Muslim, that should become

00:20:42 --> 00:20:44

very clear to us that because of his

00:20:44 --> 00:20:47

religious origin, we don't get into it, right?

00:20:47 --> 00:20:48

We don't celebrate it.

00:20:48 --> 00:20:51

And by the way, like all honesty, like

00:20:51 --> 00:20:53

just go look at the Wikipedia page for

00:20:53 --> 00:20:53

Halloween.

00:20:54 --> 00:20:56

I don't really understand a Muslim who can

00:20:56 --> 00:21:00

read the Wikipedia page of, you know, Halloween,

00:21:00 --> 00:21:03

its origins and whatever else that goes on.

00:21:03 --> 00:21:05

And even like today and say like, yeah,

00:21:05 --> 00:21:08

as a Muslim, like I'm totally comfortable celebrating

00:21:08 --> 00:21:11

Halloween because it is so far removed from

00:21:11 --> 00:21:12

our deen.

00:21:12 --> 00:21:14

It is so far removed from our morals

00:21:14 --> 00:21:17

and our principles as a Muslim.

00:21:18 --> 00:21:21

Some other reasons why I don't celebrate Halloween.

00:21:22 --> 00:21:25

In essence, you know, a lot of it

00:21:25 --> 00:21:28

is a celebration of evil, right?

00:21:28 --> 00:21:32

And evil is personified in different ways, whether

00:21:32 --> 00:21:35

it be through vampires and ghosts and witches

00:21:35 --> 00:21:35

and so on and so forth.

00:21:36 --> 00:21:36

Demons, right?

00:21:36 --> 00:21:39

So shialteen, subhanAllah, shialteen, right?

00:21:39 --> 00:21:41

The celebration of shialteen, this should be once

00:21:41 --> 00:21:43

again a big red flag that we don't,

00:21:43 --> 00:21:45

even as a joke, subhanAllah, personally, I know

00:21:45 --> 00:21:47

people say like, I'm just joking, like I

00:21:47 --> 00:21:49

don't believe it, you know, I'm just dressing

00:21:49 --> 00:21:49

up.

00:21:50 --> 00:21:52

But even as a joke, like we don't

00:21:52 --> 00:21:55

celebrate something which is evil, something which is

00:21:55 --> 00:21:57

bad, even as a joke, right?

00:21:57 --> 00:22:00

So that's why we don't, and also like

00:22:00 --> 00:22:02

we're talking about joking, scaring people and all

00:22:02 --> 00:22:03

of that.

00:22:04 --> 00:22:07

This is something that even scaring people as

00:22:07 --> 00:22:09

a joke is not something which is permissible

00:22:09 --> 00:22:10

in Islam.

00:22:11 --> 00:22:13

So for all of those reasons and others,

00:22:13 --> 00:22:16

I don't celebrate Halloween as a Muslim.

00:22:16 --> 00:22:19

Now, I know people have been asking a

00:22:19 --> 00:22:20

lot of questions.

00:22:20 --> 00:22:21

Let me just run through some of these

00:22:21 --> 00:22:22

questions and we can get into this discussion,

00:22:23 --> 00:22:23

inshaAllah.

00:22:23 --> 00:22:24

I'm going to take it from the top,

00:22:24 --> 00:22:25

from the questions that I see.

00:22:26 --> 00:22:30

Bismillah, Marwa said, if children have to dress

00:22:30 --> 00:22:32

up or do any activities related to Halloween

00:22:32 --> 00:22:35

in school, is it okay for them to

00:22:35 --> 00:22:35

take part?

00:22:35 --> 00:22:39

Or buying food that has Halloween themed, like

00:22:39 --> 00:22:41

coffee, apples, or cakes, and so on and

00:22:41 --> 00:22:41

so forth.

00:22:41 --> 00:22:45

Okay, so obviously a lot of this goes

00:22:45 --> 00:22:48

back to where you live, living as a

00:22:48 --> 00:22:50

minority in a non-Muslim land.

00:22:51 --> 00:22:53

Obviously, we're faced with a lot of challenges.

00:22:55 --> 00:22:58

As a Muslim, we shouldn't take part in

00:22:58 --> 00:22:59

Halloween, right?

00:22:59 --> 00:23:01

We shouldn't, you know, whether it be school

00:23:01 --> 00:23:01

or otherwise.

00:23:02 --> 00:23:05

What I would recommend is to contact the

00:23:05 --> 00:23:07

school and say, look, this goes against my

00:23:07 --> 00:23:10

religious beliefs, so I'm not comfortable taking part

00:23:10 --> 00:23:10

in it.

00:23:11 --> 00:23:13

And I don't know how the school would

00:23:13 --> 00:23:15

react, it wouldn't depend, you know, from place

00:23:15 --> 00:23:17

to place, this can differ, and every, you

00:23:17 --> 00:23:18

know, place has a different challenge.

00:23:19 --> 00:23:20

And so it's really hard for me to

00:23:20 --> 00:23:23

say, but just from my end, looking at

00:23:23 --> 00:23:26

my culture and my context, if this were

00:23:26 --> 00:23:28

to happen with my kids, I would contact

00:23:28 --> 00:23:30

the school and say, look, you know, as

00:23:30 --> 00:23:32

a Muslim, like I'm not comfortable celebrating Halloween,

00:23:32 --> 00:23:34

so can my daughter or my son be

00:23:34 --> 00:23:37

exempt from this celebration?

00:23:38 --> 00:23:40

Buying food that is Halloween themed, right?

00:23:40 --> 00:23:43

So this is something that scholars differed over,

00:23:44 --> 00:23:47

is it okay to buy Halloween candy, right?

00:23:48 --> 00:23:50

Some scholars say that as long as a

00:23:50 --> 00:23:53

person is not buying that Halloween candy to

00:23:53 --> 00:23:56

give out on Halloween, meaning it is bought

00:23:56 --> 00:23:58

for the candy itself and not for the

00:23:58 --> 00:24:00

celebration, it is okay.

00:24:00 --> 00:24:02

And I lean more towards that opinion, that

00:24:02 --> 00:24:04

as long as that, as long as a

00:24:04 --> 00:24:07

person isn't using that candy to celebrate Halloween,

00:24:08 --> 00:24:10

then inshallah ta'ala it is okay.

00:24:10 --> 00:24:12

If it's just used as food or sweet,

00:24:12 --> 00:24:14

then inshallah ta'ala that's fine, wallahu ta

00:24:14 --> 00:24:15

'ala.

00:24:16 --> 00:24:18

Abdullah said, is it okay to give out

00:24:18 --> 00:24:19

candy but not actually go out?

00:24:20 --> 00:24:22

So when we say take part in a

00:24:22 --> 00:24:24

holiday, it means that we don't take part

00:24:24 --> 00:24:28

in any of the traditions related to that

00:24:28 --> 00:24:28

holiday.

00:24:28 --> 00:24:31

So giving out candy would be considered taking

00:24:31 --> 00:24:32

part in that holiday.

00:24:33 --> 00:24:35

Even though we're not receiving the candy or

00:24:35 --> 00:24:36

we're not going out, we're not trick-or

00:24:36 --> 00:24:41

-treating ourselves, but giving out that candy means

00:24:41 --> 00:24:44

that we're taking part in the traditions or

00:24:44 --> 00:24:47

the rituals, that's a better word I should

00:24:47 --> 00:24:50

say, the rituals associated with that holiday, that

00:24:50 --> 00:24:52

we're taking part in it.

00:24:52 --> 00:24:53

So that would not be okay.

00:24:55 --> 00:24:57

If children knock on your door and ask

00:24:57 --> 00:24:59

for sweets on Halloween, can you give sweets?

00:25:00 --> 00:25:00

Oh, same question.

00:25:01 --> 00:25:03

Yeah, so as a Muslim, as I said,

00:25:04 --> 00:25:05

it is better to not, you should stay

00:25:05 --> 00:25:08

away from taking part in Halloween.

00:25:09 --> 00:25:12

If someone says happy Halloween to you, what

00:25:12 --> 00:25:13

do you say back?

00:25:13 --> 00:25:14

Can you?

00:25:15 --> 00:25:18

Okay, so in general, I don't expect that

00:25:18 --> 00:25:20

the average person or someone says happy Halloween

00:25:20 --> 00:25:21

to them, that they're going to be like,

00:25:21 --> 00:25:23

okay, hold on, I'm Muslim and let me

00:25:23 --> 00:25:25

tell you about why I don't celebrate Halloween

00:25:25 --> 00:25:25

and this and that.

00:25:26 --> 00:25:28

Like you may be at the grocery store

00:25:28 --> 00:25:30

and somebody at the cash register says happy

00:25:30 --> 00:25:33

Halloween and you're not going to, realistically, you're

00:25:33 --> 00:25:34

not going to be like, let me give

00:25:34 --> 00:25:37

you a lecture on why as a Muslim,

00:25:37 --> 00:25:39

I'm not going to say happy Halloween back

00:25:39 --> 00:25:39

to you.

00:25:39 --> 00:25:42

So I would recommend that in a case

00:25:42 --> 00:25:46

like that, don't be rude, just say okay

00:25:46 --> 00:25:47

or just say thank you.

00:25:48 --> 00:25:52

And you're not thanking them for their greeting,

00:25:52 --> 00:25:55

that particular greeting, you're thanking them because they're

00:25:55 --> 00:25:56

being nice to you.

00:25:56 --> 00:25:58

And as a Muslim, that is something praiseworthy

00:25:58 --> 00:26:02

to thank someone for being nice.

00:26:02 --> 00:26:04

So it's not that they want you to

00:26:04 --> 00:26:07

celebrate Halloween and we don't know exactly what

00:26:07 --> 00:26:09

someone's intention is, but we assume that they're

00:26:09 --> 00:26:10

just trying to be nice to you, that's

00:26:10 --> 00:26:12

why they're saying happy Halloween.

00:26:12 --> 00:26:15

You can just say thank you and reply

00:26:15 --> 00:26:16

and say have a good day.

00:26:17 --> 00:26:18

So say something good back to them, hope

00:26:18 --> 00:26:21

you have a good day, thank you, whatever,

00:26:21 --> 00:26:23

thanks for your help, whatever it is, just

00:26:23 --> 00:26:23

be nice.

00:26:25 --> 00:26:27

Okay, let's take a look at some of

00:26:27 --> 00:26:28

these other questions.

00:26:30 --> 00:26:32

Can we go out and get candy if

00:26:32 --> 00:26:34

we don't dress up and we don't have

00:26:34 --> 00:26:34

the intentions?

00:26:35 --> 00:26:37

Yeah, okay, so I mentioned this earlier that

00:26:37 --> 00:26:40

as long as the person not celebrating Halloween,

00:26:41 --> 00:26:42

I mean let's be honest, let's be real,

00:26:43 --> 00:26:45

candy is on sale during Halloween, right?

00:26:45 --> 00:26:47

So as long as our intention is that

00:26:47 --> 00:26:50

we're not celebrating Halloween and we're not passing

00:26:50 --> 00:26:51

it out and we're not saying to someone

00:26:51 --> 00:26:53

like happy Halloween or whatever and we're just

00:26:53 --> 00:26:57

eating the candy as candy, then inshallah, that

00:26:57 --> 00:26:58

is something which is okay.

00:27:03 --> 00:27:06

Can we buy things in shops that are

00:27:06 --> 00:27:08

an offer from a Halloween discount?

00:27:08 --> 00:27:10

Yeah, as I mentioned, inshallah, that is something

00:27:10 --> 00:27:12

which is okay.

00:27:14 --> 00:27:17

Travel lover said Muslims have started to celebrate

00:27:17 --> 00:27:19

in Pakistan and Dubai, shocking.

00:27:19 --> 00:27:22

Yeah, it is shocking and it is not

00:27:22 --> 00:27:23

shocking as well.

00:27:23 --> 00:27:27

What we have to realize is that American

00:27:27 --> 00:27:30

culture, being an American myself, I can say

00:27:30 --> 00:27:33

this, American culture is exported, right?

00:27:33 --> 00:27:38

And American culture slowly becomes a global culture.

00:27:39 --> 00:27:42

And so it's not really shocking and this

00:27:42 --> 00:27:43

is one of the things I did want

00:27:43 --> 00:27:46

to say is that we need to be

00:27:46 --> 00:27:48

very careful when we talk to other people.

00:27:49 --> 00:27:53

We need to be kind, we need to

00:27:53 --> 00:27:56

be gentle when dealing with others because when

00:27:56 --> 00:27:58

it comes to other people, we have to

00:27:58 --> 00:28:01

understand that not everyone is at the same

00:28:01 --> 00:28:02

level of iman, right?

00:28:02 --> 00:28:05

So not at the same level of faith,

00:28:05 --> 00:28:07

not everyone has the same level of knowledge,

00:28:08 --> 00:28:10

not everyone has the same level of understanding,

00:28:10 --> 00:28:13

not everyone has the same level of wisdom,

00:28:14 --> 00:28:15

right?

00:28:15 --> 00:28:17

So there may be some people who simply

00:28:17 --> 00:28:18

don't know, right?

00:28:18 --> 00:28:20

They don't know that it's something which is

00:28:20 --> 00:28:22

bad or it may be that they know

00:28:22 --> 00:28:23

but they don't have proper understanding of the

00:28:23 --> 00:28:25

issue or it may be that their iman

00:28:25 --> 00:28:27

isn't strong enough for them to not celebrate

00:28:27 --> 00:28:29

Halloween and therefore they take part in it.

00:28:30 --> 00:28:32

We should honestly leave the judgment out of

00:28:32 --> 00:28:33

it, right?

00:28:33 --> 00:28:36

I'm not saying that we say that, you

00:28:36 --> 00:28:38

know, that we change the ruling of Halloween.

00:28:38 --> 00:28:39

That's not what I'm saying here.

00:28:39 --> 00:28:41

What I'm saying is that we don't know

00:28:41 --> 00:28:42

what a person is going through, we don't

00:28:42 --> 00:28:44

know what their life experiences are, we don't

00:28:44 --> 00:28:46

know what they've been through, we don't know

00:28:46 --> 00:28:47

how much knowledge they have.

00:28:47 --> 00:28:49

So instead of quickly just judging someone and

00:28:49 --> 00:28:51

saying you're a bad Muslim or you know

00:28:51 --> 00:28:53

yeah this is wrong and don't you know

00:28:53 --> 00:28:55

better and like fear Allah, like how dare

00:28:55 --> 00:28:57

you so on and so forth, like leave

00:28:57 --> 00:28:58

all that out of it.

00:28:58 --> 00:29:00

Instead maybe just educate people, right?

00:29:00 --> 00:29:02

Just talk to them, have a discussion with

00:29:02 --> 00:29:06

them without looking down upon someone, right?

00:29:06 --> 00:29:10

And you know we put away your, I

00:29:10 --> 00:29:11

call it fetwa hammers, right?

00:29:11 --> 00:29:12

If you don't know what a fetwa hammer

00:29:12 --> 00:29:13

is, when you take and you learn a

00:29:13 --> 00:29:15

fetwa, you hammer somebody on the head with

00:29:15 --> 00:29:16

a fetwa, right?

00:29:16 --> 00:29:17

So put away your fetwa hammers.

00:29:18 --> 00:29:20

A hammer is not convincing to anybody.

00:29:21 --> 00:29:22

A hammer just causes pain.

00:29:22 --> 00:29:24

We're not trying to cause pain to people,

00:29:25 --> 00:29:27

we want to educate people, right?

00:29:27 --> 00:29:29

And that happens by softening the heart and

00:29:29 --> 00:29:32

really having just talking to people, having empathy

00:29:32 --> 00:29:32

towards people.

00:29:32 --> 00:29:34

Empathy means try to understand where a person

00:29:34 --> 00:29:36

is coming from, even if you disagree with

00:29:36 --> 00:29:37

the person, right?

00:29:37 --> 00:29:40

Try to understand why they have a certain

00:29:40 --> 00:29:42

belief or why they have a certain view

00:29:42 --> 00:29:45

on a certain matter and that empathy will

00:29:45 --> 00:29:47

help us connect with them.

00:29:48 --> 00:29:49

And the more we're able to connect with

00:29:49 --> 00:29:54

people, the more successful or I should say,

00:29:55 --> 00:29:57

the better, the more success we're going to

00:29:57 --> 00:30:00

have at reaching a person when we're able

00:30:00 --> 00:30:02

to have a connection and empathy builds connection,

00:30:02 --> 00:30:03

right?

00:30:04 --> 00:30:07

The opposite of empathy is to separate ourselves

00:30:07 --> 00:30:08

from others, right?

00:30:08 --> 00:30:09

To put ourselves in a camp and put

00:30:09 --> 00:30:09

them in another camp.

00:30:10 --> 00:30:11

A lot of people they'll go like, good

00:30:11 --> 00:30:13

Muslim, bad Muslim.

00:30:13 --> 00:30:14

So you're bad Muslim, I'm good Muslim.

00:30:14 --> 00:30:17

We're now separating ourselves from them and that

00:30:17 --> 00:30:20

separation means that we're not going to be

00:30:20 --> 00:30:21

able to connect with them and reach out

00:30:21 --> 00:30:21

to them.

00:30:22 --> 00:30:23

And if you look at, this is why

00:30:23 --> 00:30:24

if you look at the sunnah of the

00:30:24 --> 00:30:27

Prophet ﷺ, the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ

00:30:27 --> 00:30:28

was about empathy, right?

00:30:29 --> 00:30:31

It was about reaching out to people.

00:30:31 --> 00:30:33

It was about connecting with people in order

00:30:33 --> 00:30:35

to guide them, in order to educate them.

00:30:35 --> 00:30:38

And we want to very much, you know,

00:30:38 --> 00:30:40

adopt the characteristics and the manners of the

00:30:40 --> 00:30:41

Prophet ﷺ.

00:30:42 --> 00:30:48

As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, That

00:30:48 --> 00:30:52

if you were harsh and hard-hearted, they

00:30:52 --> 00:30:53

would run away from you.

00:30:53 --> 00:30:53

And this is who?

00:30:53 --> 00:30:55

The Prophet ﷺ.

00:30:56 --> 00:30:58

Allah is reminding the Prophet ﷺ that if

00:30:58 --> 00:31:00

you were harsh and you were hard-hearted,

00:31:00 --> 00:31:02

that they would run away from you.

00:31:02 --> 00:31:02

Who would run away?

00:31:03 --> 00:31:04

Not average people, the companions.

00:31:05 --> 00:31:06

The companions would run away from you.

00:31:06 --> 00:31:09

And this was a reminder for the Prophet

00:31:09 --> 00:31:12

ﷺ to be gentle with the people, right?

00:31:12 --> 00:31:13

To not be harsh with the people.

00:31:13 --> 00:31:16

And very much the Prophet ﷺ was gentle

00:31:16 --> 00:31:19

in the way that he spoke to people,

00:31:19 --> 00:31:21

the way in which he related to people.

00:31:21 --> 00:31:24

And this is why the Prophet ﷺ had

00:31:24 --> 00:31:27

such a beautiful, beautiful character in how he

00:31:27 --> 00:31:27

dealt with people.

00:31:28 --> 00:31:30

Okay, I'm going to take a couple more

00:31:30 --> 00:31:31

questions.

00:31:31 --> 00:31:33

Any other issues, then we'll call it a

00:31:33 --> 00:31:33

day.

00:31:34 --> 00:31:36

If I celebrated Halloween when I was younger,

00:31:36 --> 00:31:38

should I repent for it?

00:31:39 --> 00:31:40

It depends on how young you were.

00:31:40 --> 00:31:42

If it's before the age of puberty, this

00:31:42 --> 00:31:45

is not something that we are accountable for.

00:31:46 --> 00:31:48

We know that as a Muslim, no, as

00:31:48 --> 00:31:51

human beings in general, but as Muslims, we

00:31:51 --> 00:31:54

understand that we are, our accountability starts when

00:31:54 --> 00:31:56

we reach the age of puberty.

00:31:56 --> 00:31:58

So if it's before that, there's no need

00:31:58 --> 00:32:01

to make tawbah, even though, you know, making

00:32:01 --> 00:32:03

tawbah, there's nothing wrong with that.

00:32:03 --> 00:32:05

But if it happened after the age of

00:32:05 --> 00:32:08

puberty, then yes, a person should repent to

00:32:08 --> 00:32:11

Allah ﷻ, ask Allah ﷻ for forgiveness, and

00:32:11 --> 00:32:12

move on, insha'Allah.

00:32:15 --> 00:32:18

Does the same ruling apply to Christmas celebrations

00:32:18 --> 00:32:19

and so on and so forth?

00:32:19 --> 00:32:23

So any religious holiday, any spiritual holiday would

00:32:23 --> 00:32:24

take the same ruling.

00:32:24 --> 00:32:27

So we have to ask ourselves a few

00:32:27 --> 00:32:27

questions.

00:32:27 --> 00:32:28

Is this a religious holiday?

00:32:29 --> 00:32:31

Are there any beliefs attached to it?

00:32:31 --> 00:32:33

Are there any superstitions attached to it?

00:32:34 --> 00:32:37

And then also, is anything bad happening on

00:32:37 --> 00:32:38

this holiday?

00:32:38 --> 00:32:39

Anything haram happening?

00:32:39 --> 00:32:42

All of those would be reasons why, as

00:32:42 --> 00:32:44

a Muslim, we don't take part in that

00:32:44 --> 00:32:44

holiday.

00:32:45 --> 00:32:50

I have a question unrelated to this topic.

00:32:50 --> 00:32:51

So here's what we're going to do.

00:32:51 --> 00:32:54

I'll do another live session, insha'Allah, where

00:32:54 --> 00:32:56

I will just take general questions, insha'Allah.

00:32:56 --> 00:32:58

We'll do like an AMA.

00:32:58 --> 00:33:00

So if you know an AMA, ask me

00:33:00 --> 00:33:03

anything, we'll do one of those AMAs, where

00:33:03 --> 00:33:05

you can ask general questions, insha'Allah, because

00:33:05 --> 00:33:08

I think this live format, a lot of

00:33:08 --> 00:33:11

people like it because there's that interaction, real

00:33:11 --> 00:33:13

-time interaction, and I think it's good as

00:33:13 --> 00:33:13

well.

00:33:14 --> 00:33:15

Also one of the problems with live is

00:33:15 --> 00:33:17

I see the sun coming in from the

00:33:17 --> 00:33:18

window here.

00:33:18 --> 00:33:19

I don't know if you noticed in this

00:33:19 --> 00:33:21

live session, it's hitting me in the eyes.

00:33:21 --> 00:33:23

That's maybe a sign of Allah that it's

00:33:23 --> 00:33:24

time to call it a day.

00:33:24 --> 00:33:26

So we'll call it a day here.

00:33:26 --> 00:33:29

Jazakumullahu khairah to everyone who joined us live.

00:33:30 --> 00:33:31

It was good to have you here and

00:33:31 --> 00:33:33

seeing people from all over the world.

00:33:33 --> 00:33:34

It's always great.

00:33:34 --> 00:33:36

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best.

00:33:36 --> 00:33:37

Take care.

00:33:37 --> 00:33:38

May Allah bless all of you.

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