Celebrating the Mother's Day

Fatwa:


All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

What is known among many people as Mother's Day and which is claimed to be the 21st of March is nothing but an innovation and a non-Islamic ritual which has entered the Muslim's homes because of their inadvertence and ignorance of the Islamic values and rites. In fact this so called "Mother's Day" is an imitation of the non-Muslims, namely the western people and their followers.

It is proven that the Prophet Muhammad said: "If somebody tries to introduce into this faith of ours (Islam) something which is not a part of it, is to be rejected and that person is condemned". [Reported by Imaams Bukhaari and Muslim]

No innovation has come except it has caused a Sunnah to be neglected or even rejected. This is clear and evident. You can for instance see a man who disobeys his mother and causes her much harm and who does not visit her except on rare occasion, and when this "Day" comes he brings her a gift or a flower and thinks that by this act he has fulfilled his duties towards her.

The People who innovated this practice did so first as compensation to their society's neglect as far as the rights of mothers are concerned and, second, due to the break in kinship ties and lack of the sincere affection that should exist between parents and their children. For the above reasons, these people innovated this Day to return to mothers "some of their rights" and to make families celebrate it and "honor" mothers.

By doing so, they are like the one who kept silent for a long time and the first word he uttered was nonsense. What is the importance of "honoring" a person one day in a whole year and leaving that person the rest of the year in a "nursing home for the elderly"or alone with her dog or cat? Are these animals more faithful to this woman than her own children whom she has breast-fed and raised as best she could? We say in this respect that the mother herself played a part in initiating this disobedience as she herself disobeyed her mother as a young girl. She used to practice the same with her mother and now she receives the same fate as a mother.

The Prophet said: "No people have innovated something that is not from the religion but a Sunnah of the same extent is eliminated. So sticking to a Sunnah is better than creating an innovation". [Reported by Imaam Ahmad].

The scholars are agreed that it is forbidden to appoint a feast day for Muslims other than the two feasts: Al-Fitr and Al-Adhaa because feasts are part of what Allaah has ordained on us. Allaah says (what means): {For every nation We have ordained religious ceremonies which they must follow;} [Quran 22: 67].

Moreover, celebrating this Day does not give the mother the smallest fraction of what Allaah has prescribed for her. Allaah has ordained on us to obey our mothers and do all the good to them as long as they are alive and after they die. No other religion has given the mother the rights Islam prescribed to her.

Allaah commanded us in many verses of the Quran to obey parents and do good to them. He even linked their obedience to His worship. He linked thanking Him to thanking them. Allaah mentioned the mother alone in some places to show us that her rights are greater than those of the father. Allaah says (what means): {Worship Allaah and join none with Him in worship, and do good to parents.} (Quran 4:36) Allaah also says (what means): {And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents.} (Quran 17:23)

Ibn Abbaas said: "The obedience of the parents increases by being kind and gentle to them. One should reply gently to everything that they tell him. One should not look at them in their eyes. One should not shout at them. Rather, when with one's parents one should be like the slave before his master".

Ibn al-Musayyib said: "When interpreting the verse (which means): "And out of kindness lower to them the wing of humility and say: "My Lord! bestow on them Your Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood." he said: "like what a sinful slave says to a harsh master."

On the other hand, the obedience to parents is an obligation on the children even if the parents are non-Muslims or Muslims who are known to be dissolute. Allaah says (what means): {But if they strive to make you join in worship with Me things of which you have no knowledge obey them not; Yet bear them company in this life with justice (and consideration)} (Quran 31:15). So, Allaah ordered that they be given good company even if they are atheists.

Imaams Bukhaari and Muslim narrated from Asmaa' that she said: "My mother came to me, hoping (for my favor) during the life time of the Prophet . I asked the Prophet : "May I treat her kindly?" He replied, "Yes".

Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood reported: I asked the Prophet : "Which of the deeds is loved most by Allaah?'' Messenger of Allaah said, "Performing prayer at its proper time.'' I asked, "What next?'' He replied, "Kindness to parents." I asked, "What next?" He replied, "Jihaad in the way of Allaah.'' [Bukhaari and Muslim]
  
Abu Hurayrah reported: "A person came to the Messenger of Allaah and asked, "Who among people is most deserving of my fine treatment?'' He said, "Your mother". He again asked, "Who next?'' "Your mother", the Prophet replied again. He asked, "Who next?'' He (the Prophet ) said again, "Your mother.'' He again asked, "Then who?'' Thereupon he said,'' Then your father.'' So, the mother's right is greater than that of the father. It is three times the right of the father.

Al-Mugheerah Ibn Shu'bah reported: The Prophet said, "Allaah has forbidden you from disobedience to your mothers, to withhold (what you should give), or demand (what you do not deserve), and to bury your daughters alive. And Allaah dislikes idle talk, to ask too many questions (for things which will be of no benefit to one), and to waste your wealth". [Bukhaari and Muslim].

Al-Bukhaari narrated in his book "Al-Adab Al-Mufrad" that Ibn Abbaas said: "I do not know any good act that brings the person closer to Allaah The Almighty than the obedience of one's mother".

Moreover, the obedience of parents is not restricted to their lifetime, it is also done after their death. Abu Dawood reported that a man once came to the Prophet and said: "Is there any form of obedience that I could do to my parents after their death?" The Prophet said: "Yes. Ask blessings for them. Ask Allaah to forgive them. Carry out their will. Treat kindly anybody with whom they have blood relationships and treat their friends kindly."

Indeed, this is the recognition that parents deserve, and the mother in particular. So, anybody who obeys Allaah as ordered by the Shariah should not celebrate this day because it is an innovation and because Islam gave the mother complete and comprehensive rights all the time. So, anyone who does not give due respect to his mother all the time, can not make it up to her just by celebrating this day. In fact, by doing so, he will be both disobedient to Allaah and an innovator.

Likewise the practice in the west of setting aside certain days for expressing good deeds, such as Thanksgiving Day or Christmas, should not be observed by Muslims for the reasons already given. Thanking and praising Allaah, and doing acts of charity are forms of worship that should be a way of life for the Muslim.

Allaah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by:The Fatwa Center at Islamweb