Question: Is it permissible to watch the new year
fireworks? Answer: بِسْمِ
اللهِ
الرَّحْمنِ
الرَّحِيْم In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. In new year fireworks they "burn"
hundreds of thousands or even millions of tax dollars in just several minutes,
all for the sake of "celebrating" the fact that one year has passed
and another year has begun. How many empty and starving stomachs could
that amount of money have filled? Can such extravagance and wastage be
permissible in Islam, which has declared that it is extravagance and prohibited to
even unnecessarily wash a limb four times during ablution, and
which teaches that when cooking one should add extra gravy in order
to share the food with the hungry neighbours? If the answer is no --
and indeed it is no -- then how can a person with integrity and conscience
support such an extravagant, thoughtless and insensitive act by watching
and enjoying it? Furthermore, what exactly is there to celebrate in the fact
that one year has passed and another year has begun? Every year,
month, day and minute that goes by takes us closer to our graves and to our
eternal and real life. Upon the end of every day, month and year a
Muslim ought to ponder and take account of his actions, how he spent that day,
month or year and what consequences he is liable to face in the life
hereafter for those actions, and what he can do to avoid repeating his reckless/sinful
actions and how he can do more of the actions that please Almighty Allah.
Umar Ibn al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) used
to say "Take account of yourselves (i.e. your actions) before your account
is taken (by Almighty Allah on the Day of Judgement)". May Allah Ta'ala
protect us from blindly following the reckless, irrational and insensitive
customs and may He enable us to do acts that please Him. Ameen. And
Allah Ta'ala knows best Mufti Faizal Riza Darul Ifta
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