Halloween, Halal-o-ween or nothing: American Muslims, Trick or Treating and Islam

The fall and winter provide lots of opportunities for American Muslims to fight amongst themselves.  The fights are about whether or not we (American Muslims) can partake of holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day.  Some are getting better at agreeing to disagree, but the debates rage on!

Tomorrow's holiday, Halloween, kicks it all off!

 Our family will participate.  One parent will hang back at home and hand out candy to the kids who come by while the other parent goes out with the kids, other parents and their children to "trick or treat"!

I'm not going to get into the "theology" of it here because the facts don't require it.  Halloween is now an American tradition where people dress up, walk around their neighborhoods and meet, greet and trick or treat.  I've been doing it since around 1974 or 1975 and in all of these years no one ever invoked black magic, satan worship or even another religious impramatur upon the holiday.  It has been and continues to be a secular observance.

Participating in Halloween in no way stops me from teaching and practicing Islam.  We can and do pray together as a family on Halloween just as on every other day.  Our family's belief in One God, Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the final messenger of God, Quran as the final revealed word of God, the five pillars of Islam (faith, fasting, alms-giving, daily prayer, hajj), all the prophets including (but not limited to) Abraham, Noah, David and Jesus (including the immaculate conception and the virgin birth), the previous revealed texts such as the Torah and the Bible (among others), and on and on remain fully intact on October 31.

The difference on 10/31 from most other days in the year is that my kids will be dressed up in costumes (and sometimes I will too) and we'll "trick or treat" our way around our neighborhood with other kids and other parents.  Another difference is that on this one holiday we'll get out and actually interact with our neighbors, talk to them as we walk up and down the streets, find out about how work and school are going, talk about what's happening in the community and connect a little.

10/31, Candy, Treats, Fun but no costumes... ???
That makes it Halal-o-ween?

Halloween is a fun, secular American holiday.  It is not the same as Christmas, Lent and Easter. American Muslims can participate in Halloween without giving up (or even compromising) any of their religious values.  Of course it is a personal decision and if some feel otherwise, then it is their right to abstain.

Those who choose to participate in Halloween are no less Muslim than those who choose to abstain from it.  Similarly, American Muslims who choose to abstain from Halloween are no less American for their choice either.

J-Che!  Via La Halloween!

 

 

 

 

Comments

[A concerned Muslim parent]

I disagree with most of your assertions.

1) Firstly, we can't throw the word "Halal" into something Haram to make it permissible.

2) There is nothing secular about Halloween. Its origins are pagan.

3) Prophet Muhammad (saws) warned us not to imitate the disbelievers, especially the pagans.

4) I don't believe it's all about the candy. If it were, there is no logic to it. The average Haram-o-ween costume costs $40. The average bag of candy costs $1. If you want a better deal, go to to CVS or Rite Aid on November 1. All candy is 50% off. Those who claim that it is all about the candy need to refresh their math skills.

5) The invoking of Satan isn't the criteria to determine if something is Satanic. A person may say that by going to a bar, they are not doing anything Haram, because they didn't drink alcohol. What they don't realize is that the act of going to a bar is already Haram, regardless of whether one drinks alcohol or not. Similarly, the act of participating in a Halloween is already prohibited, whether or not a person invokes Satan.

6) The concept of "trick or treating" is un-Islamic, in which a kid goes to all the neighbors and threatens them with a "trick" unless they are given a "treat". And we wonder why children today are spoiled?

7) This year, Halloween falls on the 4th of Dhul Hijjah. The first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are sacred days, which should be observed by all Muslims, whether they are performing Hajj or not. Many Muslims take this time to increase their 'ibadah and fast voluntary days. They are days of sacrifice; not days of observing pagan holidays.

7) And finally, from a dear Sheikh:

"Iman is the foundation of the Islamic community, and Tawheed is the essence of this Iman. The Islamic teachings seek before anything else to protect this Iman, and to preserve the Aqeedah of Tawheed in its purified form. For that reason we have to avoid any practice and habit that originated in environments of Shirk and idol worshiping. Islam thus made it conclusively prohibited for Muslims to imitate others in their religious practices, particularly if they are idol-worshipers and satan-worshipers.

So from an Islamic perspective, Halloween is a rejected celebration because of its polytheistic origin, and celebrating it is prohibited, even if some of its practices appear innocent and have some goodness in them. And despite the fact that people say that the celebration of Halloween today has no connection with satan or idol worshiping, it does not change anything in the way we look at it, and participating in it remains prohibited."

[Note From Junaid: while I don't agree with some of the reasoning you've provided and we disagree on some assumptions, I do respect your point of view. Thank you for sharing it.]

[Uzma Khan]

We do the same thing! When else can you run around the neighborhood at night dressed up and get free candy!!! Come on...it’s a win- win situation! For us we get together with family, have dinner, take lots of silly pictures and then go trick or treating. It turns out to be more of hanging out with family than anything else. Enjoy and Happy Halloween.
Uzma Khan

[Aijaz]

For what it's worth, I think "A concerned Muslim parent" is right here. Points 3 and 7 (the first 7) are especially important and seem to get ignored a lot nowadays.

One thing I would like to add is that these issues may appear trivial, but they're not. Our actions and tolerances have a cumulative effect. Shaitan is not gonna tempt us with blatant transgressions like the "black magic or satan worship" that you mentioned - we're currently too strong for that. That's not his M.O. His M.O. is to get us to transgress just a tiny bit. One tiny bit at a time is all that's needed.

This is just my opinion. If there's any good in it, it's from Allah, and if there's any bad in it, it's from me.

[Nisar]

My $.02, This was a good post for some of my co-workers to read and brew up the normal yearly controversy with friends.

But some of you have missed the mark entirely. The act of going door to door to get candy is not Satan tempting you even in the most remote sense of the concept. It's simply Capitalism in one of its finest hours.

Now where is my candy?