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Celebrating Hijr as Eid
All praise belongs to Allaah Who has perfected his religion upon mankind as mercy.
Allaah (ﷻ) says:
ٱلۡيَوۡمَ أَكۡمَلۡتُ لَكُمۡ دِينَكُمۡ وَأَتۡمَمۡتُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ نِعۡمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡإِسۡلَٰمَ دِينٗاۚ
This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.
[Al-Ma’idah, 5:3]
The matters of the deen have been completed in the Qur’an, the sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) and that of his companions (the righteous predecessors). Any other newly invented matters are misguidance, and all misguidance leads to Hell (may Allaah save us from it).
As far as the shariah is concerned, there are three Eids in Islam, viz – eid-il-Jumua’ah, eid-il-Fitri, and eid-ul-Adha.
Anas ibn Malik (رضي الله عنه) reported:
The Messenger of Allaah, (ﷺ), arrived in Medina during two days in which they were celebrating. The Prophet said, “What are these two days?” They said, “We would celebrate these two days in the time of ignorance.” The Prophet said, “Verily, Allaah has replaced these two days with two better days: Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.”
[Sunan Abī Dāwūd 1134. Graded Sahih by Shaykh Al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Aboo Daawood: vol. 1, p. 210, no.1004.]
Any other Eid apart from these three is innovative eids and have no place in the shariah. It is either such eid has been borrowed from the Jews, the Christians or the pagans.
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Should I Celebrate Hijra
Firstly, it is glaring that many of those who clamour for the celebration of Hijra do so because they’ve seen the unbelievers celebrating their calendar year. Based on this, it is prohibited for a believing Muslim to celebrate the Hijra as an Eid. Evidence is the following hadith.
Aa’ishah (رضي الله عنها) reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
“For every people there is a Eid and this is our Eid.”
[Sahih al-Bukhari 952]
‘Our Eid’ (i.e Fitri and Adha) means every other eid isn’t ours. The Prophet (ﷺ) clearly distinguished what is ours from what isn’t.
Secondly, anyone who has invented a ritual that is not part of the deen will have it rejected and the Eid-il-Hijri (as it may refer) isn’t a ritual known to Islam.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said:
“Whoever invents something in our faith which does not originally exist, has nothing to do with us.”
[Sahih Muslim. Vol. 3, p. 931, nos. 4266-7]
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Should I Congratulate People on Hijra
Shaykh al-‘Uthaymeen (رَحِمَهُ ٱللَّهُ) was asked this question and he replied:
If someone offers you congratulations, then respond to him, but do not initiate such greetings. This is the correct view concerning this matter. So if a person says to you, for example, “Happy New Year”, then you can say, “May Allaah make it a good and blessed year for you.” But you should not initiate such a greeting, because I do not know of any report that the salaf [early generations of Islam] congratulated one another on the occasion of the new year, rather the salaf did not regard the first of Muharram as the first day of the new year until the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (رضي الله عنه). End Quote.
Imaam Ahmad (رَحِمَهُ ٱللَّهُ) said: “I do not initiate the greeting but if someone greets me I return the greeting because responding to the greeting is obligatory…
What Should I do on the day of Hijra
With regards to rituals, do nothing special except for those you do before Hijri.
Meanwhile, Muslims can engage themselves in some other activities such as taking advantage of the holiday to teach or remind the people about Islam.
You can engage yourself in public da’wah (which shouldn’t be limited to 1st of Muharram).
Additionally, Muslims shouldn’t create awareness by establishing some sinful and innovative rally where sexes mix together. This is definitely bid’ah and sinful.
May Allaah not reject our Ibadat.
آمين يا رب العالمين
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