:salam2:
The following is a short article I wanted to share about one of my biggest pet-peeves: Muslim birthday parties. I pray you find some benefit.
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful
An Unhappy Day 
At approximately the same time that our beloved Prophet Muhummed (S) was born in the Arabian peninsula, the island that we now call Great Britain was ruled by men like King Cuthwulf of Wessex and King Theodoric. While the day of our dear Prophet’s birth came and went with few people acknowledging the wondrousness of the day, the birthdays of these kings was celebrated with grand festivity.
Possibly the earliest recorded birthday comes to us in the following passage translated from Hebrew. It’s found in the Old Testament of the Bible, in the book of Genesis; "And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants.”
We can see that Pharaoh clearly celebrated the day he was born, in exactly the same way that many people do today. Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself that this seems harmless; it’s not something that involves your deen, your actual faith. Did you know that our beloved Prophet predicted that you would say something like that? He knew that a time would come when the Muslims would love the things of this world much more they would love to follow what he left behind for them? In this beautiful and amazing hadith we’re told about our current actions: Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported Allah's Messenger (S) saying: You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would follow them in this also. We said: Allah's Messenger, do you mean Jews and Christians, by your words “those before you"? He said: Who else than those two religious groups?
There are arrogant Muslims who say that acts like celebrating birthdays is not at all similar to the words of the hadith: “entered into the hole of the lizard,” which implies to do something extremely dangerous and stupid. But the following facts about birthday celebrations should open your eyes to the fact that everything about birthdays is stupid and actually extremely dangerous to our faith!
Remember the kings mentioned in the opening paragraph; well they died and were replaced by men like King Oswald and Prince Edwin. By the way, these men lived at approximately the time when Prophet Muhummed (S) was beginning to raise his own family! The monarchs all throughout Europe celebrated their own birthdays and the birthdays of their little princes with a great deal lot of festivity. As a matter of fact, the reason that children today wear a crown on their birthday is because the royalty were the only people in ancient times who celebrated their birthdays. They were the only ones who could afford to; and they of course always wore their ornate crowns on that special day! So today, the birthday child wears a birthday-crown imitating the Christian royalty of Medieval Europe!“Whosoever imitates a nation is amongst them,” a hadith from the sunan of Abu Dawud seems applicable here.
The tradition of the birthday cake at the celebration is very ancient. It goes as far back as ancient Greek culture and its origins are pagan, extremely pagan! The first birthday cakes were described as honey cakes round as the moon and lit with thin candles, placed on the temple altars of Artemis. Would you like to know who Artemis is? She’s the goddess-daughter of Leto and Zeus, and the twin of Apollo. Those are all Greek gods by the way! Today’s birthday cakes are exact replicas of those nice round honey cakes that the pagan Greeks placed on alters to their pagan gods. YaLateef!
Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic powers for granting wishes. Lighted candles and sacrificial fires have had a special mystic significance ever since man first set up altars to his gods. Birthday candles are thus an honor and tribute to the birthday child to bring good fortune. Look at those words again: Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic powers for granting wishes. Lighted candles and sacrificial fires have had a special mystic significance ever since man first set up altars to his gods. Birthday candles are thus an honor and tribute to the birthday child to bring good fortune. Those words were taken from an Internet site written by a non-Muslim, but their meaning is abhorrent to the true believer in Allah the Almighty. Every time a Muslim child blows out candles on a birthday cake, they are actually imitating the pagan actions of lighting a sacrificial fire to bring good fortune; pure kufur!
The tradition of blowing out the candles in the hopes of a birthday wish coming true came from the belief that people praying over flames would protect them from evil spirits, and that smoke carries prayers to the gods. That phrase sounds so much like an innovation in our religion, yet Muslims are constantly crying, “Celebrating birthdays has nothing to do with our religion.” It’s important to remember this hadith by our beloved Prophet: Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib: the Apostle of Allah (S)
If anyone introduces an innovation, he will be responsible for it. If anyone introduces an innovation or gives shelter to a man who introduces an innovation in religion, he is cursed by Allah, by His angels, and by all the people. The same meaning is repeated even more strongly in this beautiful hadith; Irbad ibn Sariyah narrated: AbdurRahman ibn Amr as-Sulami and Hujr ibn Hujr said: We greeted him and said: We have come to see you and obtain benefit from you. Al-Irbad said: One day the Apostle of Allah (S) led us in prayer, then faced us and gave us a lengthy exhortation at which the eyes shed tears and the hearts were afraid. A man said: Apostle of Allah! It seems as if it was a farewell exhortation, so what injunction do you give us? He then said: I enjoin you to fear Allah, and to hear and obey even if it be an Abyssinian slave, for those of you who live after me will see great disagreement. You must then follow my Sunnah and that of the rightly-guided caliphs. Hold to it and stick fast to it. Avoid novelties, for every novelty is an innovation, and every innovation is an error.
So far just about all the “fun” aspects of a typical birthday party have been covered! We placed a crown on the child’s head, because it’s their special, almost, royal day. Then we bake them a round-pagan cake. We place lighted candles on the cake like a holy fire that can make their wishes come true. Then the child blows out the candles, so that their wish will be granted. But one more aspect of the celebration is left to be explored – the singing!
Birthday greetings and wishes for happiness are an important part of the celebrating. Originally the idea was rooted in magic. The working of spells for good and evil is the chief usage of witchcraft. It was believed that people were especially at risk to such spells on his birthday, (particularly children who were generally weaker anyway due to poor health) since one's personal spirits are more active on the day of their birth! Birthday greetings have power for good or ill because one is closer to the spirit world on this day. By singing a song of “good greetings” to the birthday-child, the evil spirits would be frightened away and their powers would be useless! Reliance on anything other than the Quran and Sunnah of our Prophet against the evil working of Shaitan is surely evil and forbidden. Why do Muslims always claim ignorance as an excuse?
In worldly matters like celebrating birthdays, which really are not important in our lives as pious Muslims we should always turn to this hadith, and we will never go astray: “Halal is obvious and Haram is obvious and between them there are some uncertainties. Those who avoid the uncertainties have avoided Haram.”
May we all only seek refuge in the Mercy of Allah and reliance on the Sunnah of His servant Prophet Muhummed (S), and may He accept each every one our good deeds done in His Path, the Path of Islam.
