AZislam.com

20 Islamic Ways to Celebrate Birthday

Review by : Yuli SE., MM

The activity of celebrating birthday or Milad in Arabic was first started in Europe. This anniversary celebration was held due to fear of an evil spirit that will arrive at the birthday. To guard against evil things, friends and family are invited to come when it is a birthday to offer good prayer and hope for birthdays.

Giving a gift is also believed to give a sense of joy for a birthday person so as to cast out the evil spirits. Celebrating birthdays is okay, as long as not too much and intend to give thanks to Allah. Islam does not teach its people to splurge on an excessive birthday party.

Here is presented the Islamic way to celebrate the birthday.

1. Say and give a birthday prayer

The most important thing in celebrating a birthday is to say a birthday prayer. Praying for the forgiveness of Allah and being grateful for the favors that have been given are the best way to celebrate your birthday. Islam teaches to always pray to Allah both in joy and sorrow, by praying the heart will be calm and something desirable can be done. Without Allah, we can’t celebrate the birthday like this and may not live until now.

“The prayer of a Muslim to his brother in secret and absent before him is greatly granted. At his side is an angel appointed by Allah. Whenever he prays for his brother with kindness, the angel says (to him): “O Allah, grant it, and (may) be for you too (get a reply) that is like.” (HR Muslim)

2. Give thanks to Allah (not worship)

As for the rest of the scholars, they tend to allow birthdays. With the basic foundation that birthdays are not ritual worship and only to give thanks to Allah. So long as there is no prohibition directly mentioned in the Quran or the Sunnah, the law of origin is allowed in accordance with the rules of “al-ashlu fil asy-yaa’i al-ibahah.” That the basic rule of muamalah problem is capability, as long as there are no texts that strictly prohibit it. As for the reason of imitation of the infidels, it is answered with the argument that not all that done by the unbeliever is unlawful. Only related to worship is forbidden, as for muamalah, as long as no texts directly prohibit it, the law is okay if there happens to be a similarity.

And when proclaimed your Lord, “If you are thankful, surely I will increase you; but if you are ungrateful indeed, My punishment (is) surely severe.” (Ibrahim 14:7)

3. Keep modest and simple according to Allah’s will

Birthday celebrations are identical with sumptuous and many foods, as well as given to the crowds. In fact, Allah does not require it. For Allah, it is enough for us to eat simple and interpret the birthday with something simple. That is enough as a sign of our gratitude to Allah. It is also to imitate the simplicity of the Prophets in the past who do not like to show off, arrogant and waste money.

“O you who believe[d]! Eat from (the) good (of) what We have provided you and be grateful to Allah if you alone worship Him.” (Al-Baqarah 2:172)

4. Give sadaqah to people who are less fortunate

Of course, we already know that the wealth and money which we have in the world are only temporary and can not be brought to death. Instead, we use it to splurge in making birthday parties, we better set aside money to give sadaqah because the law is Sunnah and if done, we will get a reward. What a pleasure in birthday, we also get rewards and can help the people who are less fortunate than us.

“(There is) no good in much of their secret talk except (he) who orders charity or kindness or conciliation between the people. And who does that seeking pleasure (of) Allah then soon We a reward great.” (An-Nisa 4:114)

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5. Say Bismillah

The increase of an age will certainly add some problems and challenges we have to face in the future. In dealing with these things, we need to say Bismillah to ask for the power of Allah because this Bismillah word is one of the Muslims’ weapons from Allah that will make us stronger and ready to do anything. We hope that we will not do sins and mistakes too in the future.

6. Goodwill or good intention

Goodwill is the key to every activity, then put goodwill or good intentions in the birthday celebration. For example, the intention to be grateful for the favors of faith, healthy mind and body, and all kinds of blessings and grace given by Allah SWT, from birth to the birthday right now.

Therefore, in celebrating a birthday, it is necessary to instill good intention in us. If not, then it is feared that the celebration will not give a positive impact, but it even brought negative impact.

”All deeds depend on the intention.” (Hadith Muttafaq’Alih)

7. Not Tasyabbuh

[AdSense-A] Rasulullah SAW teaches us not to imitate the appearance, style, and trend of the unbelievers. There are so many hadiths that explain it. The celebration of birthdays should not provide decorations that seem to imitate the habits of the unbelievers and the wicked in every celebration such as happy birthday song, candle blowing, cake dish, trumpet puffs, and so forth.

A good celebration is set in the Nahdlatul Ulama tradition (NU) tradition model, which is usually filled with Qur’an recitations, or by the recitation of Rasulullah SAW.

8. Not redundant or wasted something for silly things

This one is often seen in every birthday celebration, especially young people. They celebrate their birthday by using eggs, flour or other ingredients as a means of birthday greetings, but by being thrown or smeared on celebrating the birthday. Obviously, in this case, is not in accordance with the teachings of Islamic religion, because there are elements of waste, which is a waste of food that can not be utilized again.

If you think clearly, in fact, the tradition of ” throwing eggs ” is a very silly and unreasonable thing. Rather than being wasted, it would be better if the eggs and flour are mixed together, given the spices and then fried, and eaten together or given to someone who is in need or less fortunate.

9. Give a present that is useful

We can give a present to the person who is in the birthday and the present should be useful for him and not something grand/luxury. It may be a book to increase the knowledge of him and make his study better or an Al-Quran to make him read it every day and follow what is in it so he can become closer to Allah. By giving these presents, we can get rewards too because we do something good and help the person.

10. Notice the Invitees

It is important to the attendees who participate in celebrating the anniversary, should not be mixed between men and women who are not mahram. There should be a special place or at least a male and female guest barrier. So as to prevent the occurrence of things that can violate Shariah law, such as mutual views or meet each other, doing sex or other else. Of course, we don’t want to get sins when celebrating the birthday.

11. Relax and enjoy the birthday

It is nice to relax and enjoy the birthday without any problems that make us restless. When we are in the birthday, we need to forget all the problems, relax, and enjoy one day fully.

12. Social activities

Celebrating a birthday does not need luxury, this social activity may be rarely done most people and you are not always the main source of donors. As an idea, you can organize and invite your friends to do social work, to help orphans or to come to a nursing home. Celebrating a birthday with this activity will make you even more grateful to Allah for everything that has been given to you by Him.

13. Together with family and friends and deepen the relationship

Celebrating the birthday with family and friends is the best way to deepen the relationship between them. Islam has already taught us to become closer to family and friends because they are the best treasures that we have in the world. Without them, we can’t become something like now and live on.