WORSHIP AND FESTIVALS IN ISLAM pdf

Worship and festivals in Islam by Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi English rendered by Mansoor Durrani

WORSHIP AND FESTIVALS IN ISLAM

Shab-e-Barat

Shab-e-Barat is generally considered a festival for Muslims. Certain customs have been evolved which are adhered to, vigorously.

 From a celebrations point of view, this is second to only Muharram. But the truth is that this is absolutely a man-made festival. 

Neither the Qur’an nor Hadees and the era of companions of Prophet Mohammed Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam indicate the existence of this festival, then.

None of the Islamic scholars of the early post – Khilafat-e- Rashida period has called such a feast Islamic.  Islam is not a religion of customs and festivities.

 It is a straightforward and reasonable religion that restrains human beings from the shackles of rituals, and futile and time-consuming fete.

Islam urges people to save precious time, energy, and wealth and pay attention to the unshakable realities of life.

It wants people to spend their time on activities, which prove to be the cause of happiness and prosperity in this, life and Hereafter.

 It is highly uncharacteristic of such a religion to mark one day in a year for fire-cracking and confectioning and allow people to keep on wasting valuable time and hard-earned money every year.

 It is further remote from the spirit of Islam to make people observe a custom that is not only a drain on time and money but, at times, even proves fatal and reduces property to ashes.

 Instead of asking people to celebrate such baseless customs, it was already a trend during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

It would have surely been stopped forcefully.

All such festivities, which were performed during those days were banned, as it is. 

The matter of confectionery and fireworks is so explicit that every individual, with even little knowledge of Islam, will instantly acknowledge that these practices are against the values of Islam.

When it is endeavored to figure out the link between recognized religious belief, with this specific day of Shaban, no such association is traceable.

At the most, Islamic literature reveals only an event: once, on the night of Shaban the 15th, Hazrat Ayesha did not find Prophet Mohammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam on his bed, so she left in his search and reached Jannat-ul Baquet.