An Unhappy Day
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An Unhappy Day
By: Um Bilal
At the approximately same time that our beloved Prophet Muhummed (S) was Ñborn in the Arabian peninsula, the island that we now call Great Britain was ruled by men Ñlike King Cuthwulf of Wessex and King Theodoric. While the day of our dear Prophets Ñbirth came and went with few people acknowledging the wondrousness of the day, the Ñbirthdays of these kings was celebrated with grand festivity. Ñ
Possibly the earliest recorded birthday comes to us in the following passage Ñtranslated from Hebrew. Its found in the Old Testament of the Bible, in the book of ÑGenesis; “And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaohs birthday, that he made Ña feast unto all his servants.”Ñ
We can see that Pharaoh clearly celebrated the day he was born, in exactly the Ñsame way that many people do today. Perhaps youre thinking to yourself that this seems Ñharmless; its not something that involves your deen, your actual faith. Did you know that Ñour beloved Prophet predicted that you would say something like that? He knew that a Ñtime would come when the Muslims would love the things of this world much more they Ñwould love to follow what he left behind for them? In this beautiful and amazing hadith Ñwere told about our current actions: Abu Said al-Khudri reported Allahs Messenger (S) Ñsaying: You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch Ñand step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would Ñfollow them in this also. We said: Allahs Messenger, do you mean Jews and Christians, Ñby your words “those before you”? He said: Who else than those two religious groups? Ñ
There are arrogant Muslims who say that acts like celebrating birthdays is not at Ñall similar to the words of the hadith: “entered into the hole of the lizard,” which implies Ñto do something extremely dangerous and stupid. But the following facts about birthday Ñcelebrations should open your eyes to the fact that everything about birthdays is stupid Ñand actually extremely dangerous to our faith! Ñ
Remember the kings mentioned in the opening paragraph; well they died and Ñwere replaced by men like King Oswald and Prince Edwin. By the way, these men lived Ñat approximately the time when Prophet Muhummed (S) was beginning to raise his own Ñfamily! The monarchs all throughout Europe celebrated their own birthdays and the Ñbirthdays of their little princes with a great deal lot of festivity. As a matter of fact, the Ñreason that children today wear a crown on their birthday is because the royalty were the Ñonly people in ancient times who celebrated their birthdays. They were the only ones who Ñcould afford to; and they of course always wore their ornate crowns on that special day! ÑSo today, the birthday child wears a birthday-crown imitating the Christian royalty of ÑMedieval Europe! “Whosoever imitates a nation is amongst them,” a hadith from the Ñsunan of Abu Dawud seems applicable here. Ñ
The tradition of the birthday cake at the celebration is very ancient. It goes as far Ñback as ancient Greek culture and its origins are pagan, extremely pagan! The first Ñbirthday cakes were described as honey cakes round as the moon and lit with thin Ñcandles, placed on the temple altars of Artemis. Would you like to know who Artemis is? ÑShes the goddess-daughter of Leto and Zeus, and the twin of Apollo. Those are all Greek Ñgods by the way! Todays birthday cakes are exact replicas of those nice round honey Ñcakes that the pagan Greeks placed on alters to their pagan gods. YaLateef!Ñ
Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic powers for Ñgranting wishes. Lighted candles and sacrificial fires have had a special mystic Ñsignificance ever since man first set up altars to his gods. Birthday candles are thus an Ñhonor and tribute to the birthday child to bring good fortune. Look at those words again: ÑBirthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic powers for granting Ñwishes. Lighted candles and sacrificial fires have had a special mystic significance ever Ñsince man first set up altars to his gods. Birthday candles are thus an honor and tribute to Ñthe birthday child to bring good fortune. Those words were taken from an Internet site Ñwritten by a non-Muslim, but their meaning is abhorrent to the true believer in Allah the ÑAlmighty. Every time a Muslim child blows out candles on a birthday cake, they are Ñactually imitating the pagan actions of lighting a sacrificial fire to bring good fortune; Ñpure kufur!Ñ
The tradition of blowing out the candles in the hopes of a birthday wish coming Ñtrue came from the belief that people praying over flames would protect them from evil Ñspirits, and that smoke carries prayers to the gods. That