Iraq’s Grand Mufti: “It is not permissible to celebrate the New Year,” to do so is un-Islamic
“Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.” — Ayatollah Khomeini
“Iraqi Grand Mufti says New Year’s celebrations ‘not permissible,’” Kurdistan24, December 28, 2018:
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s prominent Sunni, cleric Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Sumaidaie, on Thursday declared New Year’s celebrations to be impermissible for Muslims.Although New Year’s celebrations, held in most countries using the Gregorian calendar, are largely seen as a non-religious event, it is still associated with Christianity.Individuals with little knowledge of the specifics of the observance confuse it with the Christmas holidays, the supposed date of the birth of Jesus Christ, who is considered a holy prophet in Islam, though perceived differently from Christianity.Recently, the Iraqi council of ministers approved Christmas to become a public holiday. This is the first time Baghdad has declared the event a national holiday, involving all citizens after being limited only to Christians for decades.In doing so, the rest of the nation joined the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in including Christmas as a public holiday.“It is not permissible to celebrate the New Year or congratulate it or participate in it,” the Facebook page “the Iraqi Dar al-Iftaa” quoted Sumaidaie as saying. The page is for a non-official religious body headed by Sumaidaie himself.He attributed the basis of his proclamation to senior religious clerics, including Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, a 14th-century scholar and expert in Islamic jurisprudence.Jawziyya considered congratulating Christians on their various festivals to be an act of “Shirk,” one of the gravest sins a Muslim could commit, meaning the deification or worship of anyone or anything besides the Islamic god, Allah.Sumaidaie himself is the self-styled Grand Mufti of all Sunnis in Iraq. The pronouncements of the holder of such a post, though not legally binding, hold significant sway over public opinion and behavior….
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