Last year we had a discussion on Halloween in Pakistan and this year we’ll try to see the issues faced by the Pakistani community when they try to celebrate or try to shy away from Halloween while living abroad.
It has been boiling inside of me since that fateful day when I went to a mosque for an Iftari last Ramzan. I have a very good friend who is a part of the management at one of mosques and he invited me to come to the mosque for an iftari and a dars (sermon) by the resident maulvi. Coincidentally, I had to pass a few of his earlier invitations because of one commitment or another, so I decided to go this time. I sent him a confirmation email a day before that I will be there. However, I asked him that will he exclude me from Daira-e-Islam (circle of Islam) if I did not listen to Mullah and leave before he speaks. My friend, as expected from a gentleman that he is, sent me an email indicating his agreement with a smiley at the end.
Just to give you a little background. I am not an atheist. I consider myself a proud Muslim. I have indeed gone through my phases of atheism, agnosticism and all kinds of confusions when it comes to religion but I am thankful to God that I have evolved as a believer. When I look back, I realize that I never had any issues with Islam but I have always had issues with Muslims. To this day, I hate to see Islam used and abused by none other than the followers of this great religion.
Anyway, when I arrived at the mosque for the Iftari, my friend introduced me to the Maulvi. He seemed like a decent educated chap. After my meeting with him, my friend asked me again, if I wanted to stay for the sermon. It was hard to say no at that point. The sermon started off well and then at one point the maulvi revealed to the crowd in a very dramatic tone, that if all of the people in the mosque knew that their house was on fire. There was a silence in the room. The maulvi took another dramatic turn and said “ your house is on fire”! There was a murmur in the crowd. The maulvi repeated this statement three or four times and then asked the people, “do you want to know why?”. Some of the front row enthusiasts replied in a yes and the maulvi unfolded the mystery. The point was that our houses were on fire was because we live next to the biggest Satan, the United States. Damn! I mumbled under my breath.
I hate this meaningless US bashing. I am no fan of Mr. Bush and in fact I have several issues with the US policies. I think most of the times they are manipulative and sometimes just plain stupid. Having said that, I want to emphasize on the fact that I have no hard feelings against the American people. As a Pakistani Muslim, I believe we have a political conflict with the Unites States government and it does not translate into a war between Americans against the Muslims. The American people are simple and ignorant people like us. The difference is that they have been trapped inside a bubble. They have no idea about the outside world. All there is to them is the US and all they know about the outside world is via a biased media. It is not their fault that they are not aware of the reality of the Middle Eastern conflict. If you live with these people, you discover that hey are friendly, family oriented people with their own value system. Not every one is having sex with everyone else. Jerry Springer is not depicting the real American culture. Like us, these people too work hard to provide for their families and are not striving or conniving to destroy Islam or Muslims. It’s a political conflict , let’s keep it a political conflict!
The next trigger for this article was an email in one of the mail lists that I subscribe to titled “Surviving Halloween”. The title pretty much describes the essence of the e-mail. Here is a quote from the e-mail.
“How can we worship only Allah, the Creator, if we participate in activities that are based in pagan rituals, divination, and the spirit world? May Allah protect us from such misguidance”.
This email also had several quotations from Quran and forbade muslims to become a part of the pagan ritualistic tradition of Halloween like
“So many people participate in these celebrations without even understanding the history and the pagan connections, just because their friends are doing it, their parents did it (”it’s a tradition!”), and because “it’s fun!” Allah described such people in the Qur’an: “When it is said unto them, ‘Come to what Allah has revealed, come to the Messenger,’ they say, ‘Enough for us are the ways we found our fathers following.’ What! Even though their fathers were void of knowledge and guidance?” (Qur’an > 5:104)
I am not a religious scholar and so the first question I raise is what is the context of this quotation from Quran? Is it not that Arabs had traditions of burying daughters, worshipping idols, etc or it can be applied to children dressing up in cartoon characters and going to every home in the neighborhood to collect candy?
The second question I would raise is what does Quran say about people who use religion and quotations from Quran to serve their personal hidden agendas and what does it say about the people who in their sheer ignorance propagate these views by forwarding such emails. This emotional, exploitive rhetoric is shaping up the views and opinions of our new generation.
The third question is that being a Pakistani Muslim living in North America, if our children go “trick or treating” are they really defying the principles of Islam? I may not have an answer to the first two questions but I do believe that I know the answer to third question. I do believe that Islam is about sharing joy and love. As some one on the same mail list pointed out that we should be celebrating to the extent that we understand that it is sharing in other peoples ‘happiness and festivals’. However, at the same time we should be explicitly clear in our understanding (and our communication to kids) that this is not part of our religion. There should not be any harm as long as this understanding is clear. The gentleman also pointed out a risk that with the passage of time, this understanding or differentiation may not remain clear, and these festivals may be considered a part of Islam. I agree and with my decision to live in the “West”, I took the responsibility to provide and maintain that line of demarcation bteween our’s and their’s culture and religion.
I agree that Halloween may have roots in pagan rituals but why do we care? Can’t we look at the bigger picture? Do you know where suit and tie comes from that you wear to work everyday? Tie symbolizes a cross. It is a very Christian thing but wearing a suit and tie does not make me Christian because that is not the ‘Neeyat’ (intention). Even your namaz (prayer) is not complete unless you make a ‘Neeyat’. Do you know where Mehndi (before your wedding) comes from you? Who cares? We adapted Hindu culture because we lived with them from hundreds of years. We didn’t adapt worshipping their gods but things that don’t hurt our basic religious principle are fine. Spreading joy and laughter is not unislamic!!! We live in multicultural society. Why can’t we be a part of other people’s festivities and share happiness? I loved it when my white, Canadian friends come to my house on Eid for Sheer Qurma. Why can’t we stop bashing everything American (even though Halloween is not originally American)? Why can’t we spread some joy and love in the world? Why do we have to highlight the differences and spread hatred? Why can’t the world be just one big happy place?
I watched the Halloween episode of the show “little mosque on the prairie”, and I loved the idea. a Halloween with a cultural twist? Can’t we have our children dressed up like chotay nawab with the kurta, pajama and topi? Can’t we have the bulbul and Jugnoo from Iqbal’s nazm Hamdardee. Can’t we have the Khattak dancer and girl from Thar costumes? If someone comes and tell me this is un-Islamic, the I only thing I can tell them is …Hip Hip Hurrah for Halal-oween!!!
About the Author: Muslim Rizvi is working as a Solutions Manager for an IT service company. He is based just outside of Toronto, Canada . Muslim is a writer, a poet, a painter, a playwright, an actor and a director and has been associated with theatre for over a decade. These days however, he is playing the role of a full time father and in his own words: “the artist in me died when a father in me was born”.
Request to all,
let us all recite Al Fatiha on the subject, Khalas!!
Akif:
You encapsulated the meaning of “Live and let live”. I wish we could all live by this motto.
Your comments were a breath of fresh air.
Just about now, my wife and my son should be in a supermarket shopping for candy. Shortly after, they will start to make the rounds of the neighborhood trick-or-treating and i will join them as soon as I can. We will then go back to the house and entertain kids who show up at our door. I will also be taking pictures of my son to capture the sheer joy and happiness that will be pasted on his face the entire evening. So, to everyone who wants me to deny him this experience, I say go mess up your own kids. To those, who don’t have any, I say reserve your comments, for you can’t understand. To those who just don’t want to celebrate Halloween, I say that’s your choice. To those, who are condemning from Pakistan, I say this topic wasn’t addressed to you in the first place.
I think almost all cultures ,tradition, festivals and rituals are somehow rooted in the religion at some time and over the passage of time they might become more attached to the region then religion.
I believe, we should ask ourselves before following any tradition/festival/etc. , why should i follow it, only because others follow it, or i feel happy in following it ,does not make much sense. I should know its background,before acting on it. Following it blindly will only reveal my cognitive incapability.
I think we as a muslim should also consider our Prophet’s(peace be upon him) perspective about our identity, which , I think none can question . Whether it be youm-e-ashoora, keeping handful beard and shortening mustache, eids etc.
Instead of asking what harm could be done in celebrating Halloween , you should ask what harm could be done in not celebrating Halloween.
Islam is submitting to the will of Allah, not to the will of oneself. If something is restricted, then obey it. Every religion has some sort of Do(s) and Don’t(s), which you as a believer should follow. Why people only criticize islam for having a list of Don’t(s)?
As far as following a tradition is concerned, I think we Pakistanis have left almost every other nation behind us, we are so quick at adaptation that we often outclass the original inventors. :), I would like to comment on “mayoon” that once started as “just a practice to help bride in sitting idle for 2-3 days after rukhsati” (sorry can’t phrase it well) has now become an obligatory ritual, often burdening the parents of the bride, who if somehow choose not to follow it , are heavily criticized by the family members. Although it took centuries to get to this stage, but now it has firm grip over the society. Why make things so complex if they are already simplified by islam.
May be this is the beginning of “Halal-oween”. I think the muslims living abroad should maintain their identity. A reader suggested a nice way to have a costume party for children, but it should not relate to halloween or it would spoil the idea.
Adding to my point, I stated earlier, it is all about an individual human being. Every human being is unique. No matter what you teach them, they have to choose their own destiny.
Our minds neural pathways are different. Some people are more appealed by faith while others by logic.
What I think that a balanced exposure to both side of spectrum s what kids need. They have to and they will choose their own life in end.
I have a 3 year old, and I am more afraid that if she become murderer, terrorist, drug addicted then if he is marrying by my choice or his own.
Ghalib, I appretaite the point you are trying to make, but you are mixing two things.
I have seen kids brought up in strict mulsim environment and when they grew up, they rebel. I have seen many kids who are grown up in mix environment and they have married by their own choice to an ABCD muslim. with similar background.
What I am trying to say that real issue is how we can let our kids to socialize with others without destroying their muslim identity.
It is complex issue. Even those who live in Pakistan are not immune to this cultural change. Their kids will be facing simiar problem as our kids when they will grow up.
My eyes have been opened. Only the true believers like Ghalib, Adnan and Co. will get into heaven, the rest of us are doomed unless we see the light and start following whatever these true believers tell us to do … off course we shouldn’t question anything just follow what we are told by our Mullah’s and these self declared righteous and pious people. Since they obviously have the right to decide who is right and who is wrong and they have the birth right to impose their will … sorry God’s will on everyone.
I will also stop celebrating Birthdays, Valentine’s days, Mother/Father days, Halloween, 14th Aug, 23rd March … heck I will only celebrate Eid and that too on as many random days as these Mullah’s will tell me to. If this means we have 3 Eids in a single city/town so be it … I will not question and try to find any reason/logic in what I am being told to do. I will also not try to distinguish between a Mullah and an Aalim.
After all we need to stay focused on Allah’s Qahar and Jabbar even though He has reminded us countless times of Him being Rehman and Raheem. I will also not waste time in thinking Neeyat has much importance as this is the argument that weak souls like me have used for centuries.
Thank you for saving me.
“bayhayie”
100 years ago “bayhayie” was not wearing a shuttle cock burqa, now it is different and even different for different people. Pick your time- and mindframe for “bayhayie” but let others choose theirs. After all….no compulsion….