So-Called Valentine's Day and Imitating the Disbelieversما يسمى بعيد الحب والتشبه بالكفار

Questioner: We would like a word, O Shaykh, after the recent so-called "Valentine's Day" (literally "the Feast of Love").

So-called Valentine's Day — of course, [everyone] knows that it is forbidden; all the people in the land know that this is forbidden. That is why it is not for us to make the talk merely about this feast, [but rather about] the imitation of the disbelievers that has invaded the lands of the Muslims. This is the result of defeatism. To the degree that a person is defeated within himself and defeated within his society, to that degree he responds to Western civilisation, with all its pros and cons, and imitates others. Imitation of the disbelievers is the result of admiration for them; we find veneration for them. Otherwise, what does it mean that a Muslim does not take pride in the dress of the Arabs, nor take pride in the dress of the Muslims, nor take pride in their customs and traditions, and goes to the West — when the Prophet ﷺ forbade him from that?

Imitation of the disbelievers will inevitably occur in this [nation], because [the Prophet ﷺ] informed about this. But this does not mean that we watch and do not resist; resisting is a sunnah. In the two Sahihs, from the hadith of Abu Sa'id, the Prophet ﷺ said: "You will surely follow the ways of those before you, hand-span by hand-span and cubit by cubit, so that even if they entered a lizard's hole, you would enter it." They said: "O Messenger of Allah, the Jews and the Christians?" He said: "Who else?" Are the people [meant] anyone but them?

And today the Muslims have imitated the disbelievers in many of their affairs. Homes are filled with the clothing of the disbelievers and the wicked, and with the clothing of the people of prostitution and vices. If [women] display their adornment, and some of the youth become effeminate — you see them in the streets wearing tight trousers and jeans, hair down to the shoulders, tight clothing, and slogans written on the shoulder indicating love, or [the feasts] of the Jews or the feasts of the Christians, or with a picture of a wicked man among the players and their like, or other than that. And this is not a matter specific to one or two, two or three, or rare cases; it has now become a phenomenon.

The Prophet ﷺ says, in the hadith of 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Thabit, [from] Hassan ibn 'Atiyyah, (audio unclear) from Ibn 'Umar, that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." Shaykh al-Islam said about this hadith: its apparent meaning requires the disbelief of the one who imitates them, and the least of its states is prohibition. The duty of the Muslims is to fight this jahiliyyah that has invaded the Muslims. How do we want to invade the disbelievers and conquer the lands of the disbelievers while we are imitating the disbelievers? This is impossible. The one defeated within himself will never defeat another. And whoever's principles are not victorious, his armies will not be victorious.

Imitation of the disbelievers has levels. The matter of imitating the disbelievers in their feasts which are specific to them, and in their acts of worship specific to them — this is among the greatest kinds of imitation according to the scholars. Likewise, among what has invaded the lands of the Muslims is the distribution of flowers: [if someone is] ill, they give him a flower. This is a custom taken from the Christians. [Someone is] ill, he gives him a flower; you see flowers placed on doors, flowers inside — all of these are customs taken from the Christians, and this is well known among the Christians.

The Christians now find it filthy to imitate the Muslims. Rather, they find it filthy to imitate the Arabs, even if [the Arabs] are Christians. That is why the Arab Christian is despised among the non-Arab Christians, (audio unclear) and among the companions of Hellfire; the non-Arab despises the Arab. As for imitating the Muslim, this is among the impossibilities. He sees that he takes pride in what he is upon. Glory be to Allah — a Christian takes pride in his Christianity, and a Muslim does not take pride in his Islam!

Likewise so-called Valentine's Day — this is among the greatest kinds of imitating the Christians. Likewise the celebrations of the Mawlid — this is imitating the disbelievers. These customs (audio unclear) the lands of the Muslims. The reason is that some people are lenient, having no principles regarding imitating the disbelievers. He says to him, "There's nothing [wrong] with this custom." Fine — then what is the meaning of his statement ﷺ, "Whoever imitates a people is one of them," if there is nothing [wrong]? What has happened throughout history — celebrating birthdays (mawalid) — this is the feast of the birth [of Christ]. This is a known custom, established among the Christians, and no one disputes it.

Whoever gave the Muslims a fatwa permitting this has benefited from the defeated; this one is defeated. Or he fears being reproached as harsh. And what harm does it do you if you are reproached as harsh? Glory be to Allah — do you worship the people, or do you worship Allah? What harm does it do you (audio unclear)? He can say, "He is harsh," and you can also say, "[He is] lax." You have a cause, but this is not the cause; the cause is the cause of the Sunnah, the cause of the texts. It was said of the Prophet that he was a sabi' [one who has abandoned his religion]; it was said of Imam Ahmad that he was a nasibi (audio unclear). What was said about Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah the Exalted have mercy on him? What was said about Ibn al-Qayyim? Even al-Bakri used to say about Ibn Taymiyyah that he was one of the Khawarij. Why? Because he declared the grave-worshippers disbelievers — and the book al-Istighathah exists.

And now it is said: the one who declares disbelief upon those who support the disbelievers against the Muslims is one of the Khawarij. And the one who declares disbelief upon [whoever] (audio unclear) the Messenger ﷺ, it is said, "This one is of the Khawarij." And [whoever] declares the sorcerers disbelievers, it is said, "This one is of the Khawarij." And [whoever] declares disbelief upon the false deities (tawaghit) who replace the Shari'ah of Allah — "This one is of the Khawarij." Until, some time ago, there came a time when a person would perhaps feel uneasy speaking about the disbelief of Iblis, so that it would not be said of him that he is a takfiri.

And this exists. There are people who to this day weep over Ibn 'Ali, even though he is (audio unclear). And they weep to this day over al-Qadhdhafi, even though this [man] abridged the Qur'an. The one who [denies] a verse of the Qur'an is an apostate by consensus — and the one who abridges the Qur'an is wept over? Are these Muslims? And tomorrow there will be those who weep over Bashar. These are (audio unclear) of Allah's creation [against] the tawhid of the Lord of the worlds, and these are the most misguided of creation.

Where is disbelief in the taghut? Where is disavowal of the enemies of the religion? Where is the creed (millah) of Ibrahim, about which Allah, majestic and exalted is He, says: "There has already been for you an excellent example in Ibrahim and those with him, when they said to their people: 'Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah. We have rejected you, and there has arisen between us and you enmity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone'"? And Allah says to His Prophet: "Follow the religion of Ibrahim, inclining toward truth, and he was not of the polytheists." Allah, majestic and exalted is He, sent the messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners, and commanded them with faith in Him alone and disbelief in everything worshipped besides Allah. The Exalted said: "And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying]: 'Worship Allah and avoid the taghut.'"

Also among this is going to congratulate the disbelievers on their feasts. This is among the greatest of major sins — among the greatest of major sins is that you go to the disbelievers to congratulate them on their feasts and in the places of their rites specific to them. Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimmah: "This, if its doer is safe from disbelief, is among the forbidden things," because of the gravity of this great sin. That is why the jurists say it is not permissible to sell to the Jews or the Christians, during the days of their feasts, what they would use to help them in this feast. So how about visiting them or participating with them?

And it has been said regarding His statement, majestic and exalted is He, "And those who do not witness falsehood (al-zur)": that is, they do not attend the Palm Sunday celebrations (sha'anin) of the people of shirk and the People of the Book. Likewise, do not give them gifts and do not accept their gifts in the days of their feast, because this involves a kind of helping them in this evil.

[The duty] of the Muslims today is pride in the religion, and taking pride in the glory of the religion of Islam. A person rejoices that he is of the nation of Muhammad ﷺ. If we had been Muslims in the nation of 'Isa, or in the nation of Musa, or in the previous nations — no, we would not want any substitute for being Muslims in the nation of Muhammad ﷺ. The nation of Muhammad is the best of nations, because its messenger is the best of the messengers. So it is an honour for a person to be [in] such a great [nation].

The Muslims — when there was inclination toward the West, weakness, defeatism — the West took over al-Andalus, and the Tatars took over the lands of the Muslims and killed millions of Muslims. And history repeats itself today, because the Muslims have no readiness to fortify their religion. They love the West; rather, some people may be ready and prepared to cooperate with [them]. And the proof — look at what happened in Afghanistan. If the matter were between pure Muslims and pure disbelievers, by Allah the disbelievers would not have stood firm against the Muslims even for a single month. But [it was] with the blessing of the treacherous hypocrites, and with the blessing of the begging shaykhs who defend these criminal tyrants (tawaghit).

And the situation was likewise in Iraq. America, when it came with its aircraft and tanks, would not have waged the war alone; but [it did so] by proxy, through their criminal helpers who (audio unclear) for them in the war, guide them to the strongholds of the Muslims, and cooperate with them. Because this from the outset had forewarnings and preliminaries — [they were] ready.

But now, if the Dajjal came out, you would see a great many people saying, "We are Muslims," following the Dajjal. They have no creed, they have no tawhid, they have no disbelief in the taghut. The main occupation of one of them is busying himself with insulting people and harming them, and he does not learn his religion nor the rulings of the religion. And Irja' today has penetrated many people. And defeatism exists among people who ascribe themselves to knowledge, to being shaykhs, and to religion — so how would it not exist among the common people and individuals among the common people?

People's laxity today is very great in listening to the shaykhs of misguidance, watching satellite channels, and reading the deviants and the misguided — while he has no knowledge-based immunity; he reads anyone and everyone. And Imam Muhammad ibn Sirin says: "This knowledge is religion, so look to whom you take your religion from."

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