If you have seen Darth Vader, Mary Queen of Scots, Professor Dumbledore and Wonder Woman walking hand-in-hand, chances are that you witnessed a group of kids heading to a Halloween costume-party (or a hallucination thanks to your funny smoking habits).
Halloween, celebrated on October 31st, is marked with elaborate festivities in many countries. In Pakistan, there is a rising inclination towards anything “foreign”. Naturally, Halloween-themed parties are becoming quite the fad with every youngster feeling “hip” at simply the prospect of an invite.
When Sameer told his parents he was headed to IBA’s Welcome Party for the Batch of 2015, they refused to believe him. The reason was that he was dressed as the Joker, with his face painted white, his eyes hollows of dark kohl and his lips the vibrant red of blood. Without explaining, and cackling madly to add to the effect, Sameer left the house, leaving an air of mystery behind.
The reason Sameer did not bother to explain to his parents that he was headed to a Halloween costume-party was because he knew his parents believed it to be a Christian tradition (one not to be followed by devout Muslims) and clarifying the misconception would have taken hours.
Most of us are under the same misconception.
Halloween is actually a secular tradition, dating back more than 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. In U.K. and France, the Celts celebrated the New Year on November 1st to mark the end of the summer harvest and the beginning of winter. It was believed that on this night, the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth and their presence allowed the priests to make predictions regarding the future. To celebrate this occasion, bonfires were built, animal sacrifices were made and the Celts dressed up in costumes. When the Romans conquered the Celts, they combined Samhain with two of their own festivals. By the time Christianity’s influence had spread to the region, the Church had to sanction November 1st to be celebrated as “All Souls’ Day” (to honor the dead) in order to replace the Celtic holiday with one of their own. The All Souls’ Day celebration was also called All-Hallows, and the night before the celebrations began (i.e. October 31st) came to be known as All-Hallows Eve, and later, Halloween. The American version of Halloween included “play-parties”, characterized by sharing ghost stories and mischief-making. To commercialize the concept of Halloween, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go “trick-or-treating”. Because of these developments, Halloween lost its religiosity and became the nation’s second largest commercial holiday.
While Sameer enjoyed the Welcome Party, he feels confident assuming his parents would not be happy with his explanation and would question him on his eagerness to celebrate “Christian” holidays more than the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
Excellent read:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.history.com/topics/halloween
"It was believed that on this night, the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth and their presence allowed the priests to make predictions regarding the future. To celebrate this occasion, bonfires were built, animal sacrifices were made and the Celts dressed up in costumes."
ReplyDeleteThe first sentence completely goes against the concept of Tauheed, indicating that the ritual is clearly against the teachings of Islam. And "animal sacrifices" were made.. to whom, if i may ask?
It does not matter whether it is a "Christian" ritual or a "pagan" ritual or any other ritual/tradition for that matter. What matters is that it was a custom of disbelievers that signified disbelief. The Prophet (S.A.W) said, “Whoever imitates a nation is one of them!” (Abu Da’oud)
Another Hadith says, "The Final Hour will not come until my followers copy the deeds of the previous nations
and follow them very closely, span by span, and cubit by cubit (inch by inch" (Sahih Bukhari, Book9., Vol.92, Hadith 421
The height of ignorance (Jahilliyah) is when Truth looks straight in your eye and you turn your face away from it. The least we can do is accept in our heart that it is wrong.
This was just an effort to give the other side's view i.e why people like sameer's parents would not be convinced by his explanation and is not directed to any one in particular.
“When the people see a person committing a wrong, but do not seize his hand to restrain him or her from the deed, it is likely that Allah will punish them both.” (Abu Da’oud, Nasa’i, Tirmidhi)
Ariba, your point of view is duly noted and much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteHowever, from Sameer's point of view, Halloween is not a religious activity meant to purport animal sacrificing practices or devotion to any God other than Allah.
The point is to not dismiss others' traditions based on something less than the whole truth; most of us are ashamed to admit that the idea of celebrating Christmas or Diwali is appealing to us based simply on the notion that they are un-Islamic celebrations. That attitude is wrong. One does not need to dive into every detail of the tradition to appreciate it.
If you think about it, the way we celebrate Eid is also quite un-Islamic with excessive spending on clothes, accessories, food and gifts. The essence of Eid is also lost upon us but we still celebrate it the best we can.