On Tuesday 31st October, the United Kingdom, along with many other countries, will be celebrating Halloween. It has become very popular these days, especially from the USA influence. Homes have pumpkins put outside and some homes are decorated to look scary. Children dress up and go house to house, trick or treating.
It is a ‘fun’ day, but a lot of our Muslim children are being pressurised to take part in it. Therefore, I want to remind everyone of guidance concerning this festival.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth successor of the Promised Messiah, related in a Friday Sermon on 29th October 2010 about this festival.
He began by reciting the Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4, verse 49:
Surely, Allah will not forgive that any partner be associated with Him; but He will forgive whatever is short of that to whomsoever He pleases. And whoso associates partners with Allah has indeed devised a very great sin.
He then said:
Many people start following practices without thinking and simply imitate others.
They also include their children in these. One such practice which is celebrated popularly in the West is Halloween. It is about to be celebrated in the next few days. Carelessly, some Muslims also let their children participate in this without giving any thought to its origin, etc.
Halloween is a harmful innovation among Christians which takes one closer to shirk (associating partners with God). The Bible forbids witches, satanic practices etc. but Halloween is generally regarded as fun. It should always be remembered that any ‘fun’ that is based on shirk or any harmful way is to be avoided.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth successor of the Promised Messiah, said that young children ask for permission to at least dress up in the Halloween costume, often children write to him asking about the harm of joining in Halloween saying their parents would not allow them to join.
He said this was a wrong and displeasing practice and stopped them from participating. Halloween originates from old Irish pagan practices and is based on concepts belonging to witches; concepts which trample upon religion and sacredness of homes.
No matter how much fun it may be considered, its very basis is wrong, and it includes shirk. Because its basic concept is that on 31 October the boundaries between the living and the dead are removed and the dead come back to cause harm to the living. In order to avoid being harmed, about which many nonsensical things are said, so-called magicians are called in who take animals and crops from people and sacrifice them in a specific way. Bonfire is also part of the ritual and is meant to frighten the dead. The special costumes and masks are also worn to scare.
Christianity adopted this ritual, in particular the Catholic Church. Due to Christianity and also the media, Halloween spread all over the world, in particular in the West; in USA, Canada, UK, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and other European countries. This practice is a hidden evil. Muslims in the West are adopting it. Children dress up in costumes and go from door to door asking for something to bring comfort to spirits. The notion is that if a household gives something to the costume-clad children the dead would not harm the household. Indeed, it is all considered good fun, but the idea behind it all is based on shirk.
It is against the dignity of a Muslim child to dress up in strange manner and go door to door like beggars, even if it is for chocolates. They should have a dignity which should be inculcated from childhood.
The message of Halloween is thus of existence of witches, evil spirits and satanic worship. It is extremely wrong to ‘believe in’ things that are ‘supernatural’ even if it is for fun. For this reason, our children should strictly avoid them. Until recently, village folk used to give something to the children in the belief that it would save them from spirits. Such practices also embolden children to do wrong in the name of fun. Bad manners towards grown-ups are becoming common.
In the West every evil is allowed in the name of fun and in the name of children’s rights. It encourages children to frighten people and to commit crime. Films too have given wrong messages and when such practices are encouraged by grown-ups in the name of fun, society is going to deteriorate.
For us, the biggest matter is the bringing of dead spirits, as if, equal to God and thus committing shirk.
Gifts are meant to please the spirits. It is a most absurd and nonsensical concept. Nowadays Halloween rituals do not stop at wearing of costumes and going from door to door. Rather older children deliberately frighten people in their homes and disturb surroundings. As a result, they are a nuisance for their parents and ruin their own lives.
This is why Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth successor of the Promised Messiah, said he would once again advise Muslims to avoid this and instead to increase their connection with God. They should not support so much influence of the West that they get embroiled in hidden/latent shirk. May God protect everyone from this.”
Therefore, please understand. Putting a pumpkin outside your house, informs people you are celebrating this pagan practice. Likewise with decorating the house. No Muslim child should dress up and go out door to door ‘trick or treating’. This is a form of begging for treats and if you do not get them, then causing damage by tricks.
This is not what is expecting by any Muslim child.
As we have been guided, instead of this kind of ‘fun’, turn to Allah, the One God, and strive to win His blessings and reward.