Omer As’ad Abdullah Bajabar for MuslimMirror.com
The New Year is around the corner again and everyone is aware of the type of activities that will be unleashed on the name of celebrations, the crimes that will be committed in a drunken state, lives that will be lost, worst type of human trafficking of innocent souls will be done and the amount of money that would be burnt to light-up the sky. This is a gift of modernity to humanity.
Sadly, Muslims are not far behind and cities like Dubai & Cairo compete with Paris or London and no doubt New Year celebration is the worst type of collective disobedience.
In New Year celebration, no ill or any act of disobedience is left out and all types of vice under the sky are practiced. There might be many Muslims who are just enjoying a casual night without indulging in any Haram activity, but one must realize that it is just matter of time before we (and sure coming generations) would submerge in this filth unless we take precautionary measures and corrective actions today and stay away from all type of celebrative activities. Once it becomes part of our culture then it is just a step away from getting submerged in it. We knew how it was few years ago and where are we today and if we don’t realize it and educate the masses it will only get worse.
One must realize that just declaring it “Haram” (forbidden) will not be enough to stop Muslims from it. Unfortunately, many of our Ulema have used this word improperly and declared many things immaturely Haram and has created a sort of rebellious mentality in youth. Just declaring it Haram may not be enough unless we educate the public about its negative consequences. I would like to keep this article as brief as possible and try to high light the adverse effects of these celebrations.
I don’t want to go into more details of things that happen during the New Year celebration as all people who are even a bit educated are aware of it and secondly to mention the horrible activities in detail in-itself is distasteful and disgraceful.
One must seek refuge in Allah’s Mercy from getting involved in any way, neither as organizer nor as a participator and even not as a spectator.
The visible Ills of New Year Celebrations:
Wastage of Money: In Quran Allah SWT has warned Muslims from activities which is wasteful in nature. There are two types of waste spending.
Spending more than what is required on something lawful,this is referred as “Israf”
Discussing about the management of Orphans estate, Allah SWT commanded the person incharge of the state ‘Do not Consume them in wasteful spending’ (4:6)
The Dua that is taught in Al Imran to believers ‘O our Sustainer! Forgive our sins and the lack of Moderation in our doings (Quran 3:147)
Spending on something which is unlawful:
Verily spend thrifts (squanderers) are brothers of the evil ones and the evil one is ungrately to his Lord
The New Year celebration falls in the second category and who so ever is involved in these activities and spend any money are brothers to Shaitan. What worse can it be than being called brothers to Shaitaan.
Any entertainment involving Promiscuity, Intoxicants and Gambling is forbidden: In Islam Modesty and Chastity are of extreme importance and any activity or event which adversely impact the modesty and chastity of participants and spreads indecent, shameful (Fawaesh) activities are forbidden and haram. The outcome of such events is but not limited to the following:
Adultery / Zina: Nor come near to Adultery, for it is shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils) (Quran 17:32)
Indecent acts are forbidden overt or hidden: (Quran 7:33)
Intoxicants & Gambling: O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination, – of Satan’s handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper. – Quran (5:90).
Propagation of Indecency: Those who love (to see) scandal published broadcast among the Believers (indecent & shameful activities), will have a grievous Penalty in this life and in the Hereafter: Allah knows, and ye know not. – Quran (24:19).
Many Adverse Impacts of New Year Celebrations:
Loss of lives & property: Dozens of people get killed or severely injured in the celebration events, many are burnt in so many accidents that happen due to fire work, many dozens get killed in vehicle accidents due to drunken driving. Many lose their lives in stampede and these accidents are not just limited to third world countries but it happens in developed world too.
Human Trafficking: Everything in the world runs on “Supply & Demand Equation”, higher the demand more supply is needed and every bit is done to augment the supplies. In New Year celebration, considering the high demand of prostitution, human trafficking is at peak and poor countries and poor societies are at the receiving end. Today all efforts are made to unearth the human trafficking syndicates and with every day these agencies are getting smarter and their operation getting more complex. Instead of addressing the crime and squashing the demand, the law enforcement agencies are spending their efforts in arresting the supply. This is a no-win war.
Financial cost: Sydney & London compete to be the best New Year fire work celebration, Sydney spend 7M$ for 15-minute show while London spent 6.9M$ of their tax payer’s money of for an 11-minute show. While the same could have been spent for education and healthcare needs of these countries. Sadly, Muslim countries has joined this exercise of burning money, Dubai broke the world record of highest number of firework by 400,000 more fireworks. What a waste of resources and cash!
Can Muslims of today, be it individuals or governments afford to thrift spend their resources into as filthy activity as ‘New Year Celebration’, while a great percentage of Muslims around the world are under extreme poverty? As per the statistics of the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR), forcibly displaced people worldwide are 65.3 million, (out of it number of refugees are 21.3 million and 10 million are stateless people) and we all knew a large portion (over 70%) of these are Muslims. Each day 34,000 people get displaced. How can we be so insensitive and callous to burn our money while millions of our brothers and sisters in Syria, Burma, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and many more countries are hungry, desperate and struggling to just survive?
In the world of today, with so much sufferings, so much destitution and hunger, the world has become so indifferent to the sufferings of millions that it would burn its money to be entertained for few minutes, can there be anything worse than this?
As per the WFP (world food program) statistics:
Over 795 million people doesn’t get enough to eat.
Nearly half (45%) of children under five dies due to poor nutrition (hunger).
66 million of primary school age children attend classes hungry.
Hunger kills more than Aids, Malaria & Tuberculosis combined.
Islam is a religion of mercy and we are taught by our beloved prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) who said:
“A person is not really a Muslim whose stomach is full while his neighbor remains hungry”.
Answering about the best deeds in Islam he said “Spread Peace & Feed the people…”
Quran mention the characteristics of believers who will enter Paradise:
And they are those who give food – in spite of their own need, to the needy, and the orphan, and the captive, [saying in their hearts], “We only feed you for the sake of God, and we desire nothing in return from you, not even a word of thanks’’ (Quran 76 – 8 & 9).
While, we have no control over many things which happen in the world, but how can we as Muslims be part of this worst type of wastage & squandering of human resources? It is our responsibility to rise up & stop being part of this idiotic rush and create pressure groups in our respective countries to demand stopping of this wasteful carnage of resources.
As Muslims, let us educate our children our friends and neighborhood about their responsibility towards fellow being and to feel the pangs of hunger of many millions of fellow beings who get subjected to this pain each day. Let us lead by example and educate fellow beings of their religious and social responsibilities.
Let us not be part of any New Year Celebration! May God help us to be more responsible human being.
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The author can be reached at Email : omer_asads@yahoo.com