Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 14 February 2017| 16 Jumadul ula 1438
There are many people who feel the need to express their love on this day. Men say that I do not have an illicit beloved therefore I am not doing anything haraam, I am merely taking my wife out for dinner! I am going to buy roses for her, I am going to buy a ring for her…it is for my wife, not anybody else! So how can this be wrong? my wife is my Valentine’s.
We have the womenfolk who are also guilty (of encouraging husbands to recognise and celebrate Valentine’s day). They know a man very conveniently forgets these dates because it is expensive for them. Womenfolk are sharp, when the radio is playing and they say something on Valentine’s, she puts it a little bit louder so her husband can hear. Or if there is a newspaper with an article on Valentine’s day, she puts that newspaper in his way to ensure that he sees it. On the day she may ask him, “Hey, what is the date today?” she does not ask any other day but on that day she is curious. Why? So if he has forgotten, he can make last minute arrangements.
Now this is all Shaytan’s plot. Allah has permitted and encouraged us to show love everyday, so why choose this day specifically? The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that whoever resembles a nation, he will be counted from amongst them.
Therefore, if we anticipate Valentine’s day and encourage the public sin by celebrating ourselves, we will be counted amongst them on the day of judgement. Do we really want this? If the founder of Valentine’s day died upon disbelief, the poor fellow is busy frying now. Do we actually want to follow his footsteps and fry too in the hereafter?
Look into the history of Valentine’s and you will find filthy customs took place on this day. We need to ask ourselves; does this day have anything to do with our deen and sunnah? No. However, we will find links with Christianity, atheism and polytheism. Therefore, those men who are intending to impress their wives on this day and those women who are expecting their husbands to impress them on this day, should make tawba (i.e. repent). Because we know that Valentine’s day has nothing to do with deen but it has got everything to do with shirk! Its origins are soaked in shirk.
Remember, a believer must make sabr. And a part of making sabr is to stay very far away from things that have nothing to do with deen. And this Valentine’s nonsense is definitely one of them.
May Allah safeguard us, Aameen.
Written by Hazrat Maulana Dawood Seedat حفظه الله
