Is it Haraam to Celebrate Birthdays?

Salam yo,

So since it’s my birthday, I decided to do a post about birthdays.

Yea I’m getting old! Chill old is gold, anyways like the pharmaceutical companies say “your only as old as you feel”.

I often come across Muslims who say celebrating birthdays is absolutely impressible in Islam and it’s haraam and blah blah because your imitating the disbelievers.

Now I’m not a scholar so I decided to do some research on this and clarify some misconceptions. I’m tired of hearing people make their own rulings without backing it up with proof.

It’s important that we be very specific when we talk, if a brother or sister wants to go eat at a halal restaurant on his/her birthday with some friends, there is nothing haraam with that, come on!

Now what I discovered was it all comes down to intention, now outwardly it may seem wrong to celebrate birthday since the disbelievers do it also, but it depends on how you practice it.

Obviously if you engage in direct haraam practices on your birthday, then that’s now allowed. In terms of what’s allowed and what’s not, that’s clear like windex.

So it comes down to what exactly we mean by the word “Celebrate”

Go to chucky cheese, not the bar.

I was able to come across the legal rulings from renowned scholars, Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah and Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari:

Get your pen and pad ready, I was able to get a clear anwser from the fatwa bank at Islamonline.net in which a group of muftis said: ” Islam supports the celebration of birthdays if it is an expression of gratitude to Allah for His bounties, sustenance and blessings in man’s life, as long as that celebration does not include anything that may displease Allah, the Almighty.”

Here is what the other scholars say:

My man the renowned scholar Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah (May Allah swt preserve him and all the rightly guided scholars) said:

“The holidays which are forbidden [for Muslims] to observe are those with religious overtones [such as Christmas and Easter*] not the festive gatherings people observe due to certain events. Therefore, people are allowed to celebrate wedding anniversaries, birthdays or any occasion as such celebrations are not related to religious holidays. It is imperative that we work to remove the confusion surrounding this misunderstanding and the doubts that have affected many people [regarding this issue]. [Because of this misunderstanding] people find hardship and difficulty in their religion. Especially when a religious minded person holds [such non religious celebrations] to be from the major sins or rejected acts when, in fact, they are not.

Moving forward, below is a response from Mufi Muhammad

If the origins of birthday celebrations are connected to a particular faith, then there is no doubt in its impressibility. If, however, it has no connections with the faith of the non-Muslims, then (and Allah knows best) it seems that it would be permissible to celebrate it (provided the evils mentioned above are avoided).

If one thanks Allah and shows gratitude for being blessed with one more year of his life, thus expresses happiness and joy, then there is nothing wrong with that. (See: al-Fatawa al-Rahimiyya (urdu), 6/320).

Mufti Muhammad also mentioned if the birthday involves specific practices and adaptations of customs from the disbelievers like The lighting of candles on a cake that number the years of one’s life and then blowing on them (Allah swt knows best about the candles), playing of music, singing, extravagant and lavish spending, showing off, etc are all unlawful and forbidden practices. Thus, if birthdays are celebrated by adopting the above-mentioned customs, it will not be permissible.

Check the full reading here

Anyways, it all depends on what you do on your birthday, what’s the purpose and most importantly what intentions you have. If you don’t want to do anything on your birthday, then it’s all good.

At the end of the day, everyone needs to make their own decisions.

Pass the ice cream cake yo, just make sure it doesn’t have no haraam marshmallows in it, ha.

May Allah swt guide us to the straight path, Ameen.