Full Lecture Transcript (Cleaned)
The Overall Verdict — 9:08
In my humble analysis and opinion, even though this is not a simplistic verdict, without a doubt, the celebration as it exists today really should be avoided as a ritualized festival. And especially those Muslims who prioritize Allah's pleasure and who want to achieve the highest places should avoid this gray area. But those who do it out of ignorance and not understanding the realities and nuances of Islamic theology and law should not be treated harshly and most definitely should not be judged as having committed shirk or kufr.
These are massive words that should not be thrown around like kids throw candy at Halloween. "Haram" and "shirk" — as if there's no repercussions. These are big words. These are very dangerous words to use, and you're just going to accuse families of being guilty of shirk because they're doing what in their mind is innocent? I think that also needs to be avoided.
So bottom line: while this celebration definitely as a whole, as a ritualized celebration, should be avoided, we should also avoid simplistic fatwas against innocent Muslims who don't know any better. And if we wish to guide them, it should be done with wisdom.
The History of Halloween — 43:24
Halloween goes back to an ancient Irish Celtic paganistic festival called Samhain (spelled S-A-M-H-A-I-N, but pronounced "Sow-in"). It literally means "summer's end." It was celebrated at the very end of the summer — hence October 31st, continuing on to November 1st. The goal was to mark the end of the harvest year, the end of the agricultural year.
Cattle were brought in from the pastures. The very last harvest was gathered. And the feeling was that today is the end of the summer, the beginning of the winter — it is therefore the boundary between the living and the dead. This is when the boundary is thinnest and perhaps the dead and the living can potentially interact. By the way, they did not dress up as ghouls and witches and demons in the ancient tradition. This was a genuine ritual that had some festivities to it in the ancient religions of old.
Christianization of Halloween — 44:43
When Christianity came to Ireland, they changed this festival and called it All Saints' Eve, or All Hallows' Eve — and "All Hallows' Eve" became "Hallowe'en." They Christianized it by remembering death and remembering those that have passed on. Folk customs persisted. The church bells would go on. They would go to church and they would make prayers on behalf of the deceased.
This festival was brought by the Irish to America in the 1800s. And in that iteration, children began dressing up in different ways and garbs, and pumpkins began to be carved out. The ancient Irish did not have pumpkins to draw those lanterns. This is all being reinvented in America, and there was no paganism associated with the pumpkins, because these are Christians now doing this.
The Modern Capitalistic Construct — 46:42
In the early part of the 20th century, even though this cultural practice was primarily Irish, non-Irish people began to take it up — firstly, as an excuse to party, and secondly, there is evidence to indicate that one of the main reasons they did this was to make it a family event where the young kids would be away from doing things they shouldn't do and be involved in their local communities just going house to house.
And then capitalism got involved. Large corporations realized they could benefit — the candy industry, the costume industry, and Hollywood made it an excuse to make films. The whole notion of the modern construct of Halloween is actually not going back to Samhain 2,000 years ago. It's a very capitalistic, modern reinterpretation done primarily in America. Frankly, Nestle has more to do with Halloween than the ancient demons of Norse culture. M&M's have more to do with modern Halloween than the ancient Celtic gods.
Do the Wiccans Prove It's Pagan? — 48:29
Now some people say, "Ah, but the Druids still do it. The Wiccan witches still do it." You're correct — the Wiccans actually do celebrate Samhain. But guess what? The irony of ironies: they took it from Halloween to resurrect the ancient pagan festival. It's not as if a group of people continued celebrating Samhain for 2,000 years. These are modern fringe movements. They claim to be witches and druids, and they actually do go to the woods and forests and brew cauldrons.
But the very people you're talking about are less than 0.1% of this society. And ironically, they didn't take it from the ancient Celtic religions — they actually took it from Halloween and resurrected a pagan festival based upon that.
Why Halloween Is Not Fully Neutral — 49:38
Does this mean Halloween becomes totally innocent? I would say this is where there are certain theological issues that still remain in popular culture such that we cannot equate Halloween with the 4th of July. Halloween remains ambiguous at best because it is still associated with demons and demonology. It is still associated with the world of the unseen and evil spirits.
That's why every single October, all social media starts talking about demons and ghosts, and entertainment channels start doing the classics — Poltergeist and all these weird movies. Because in popular culture, there is still an association with demons and evil entities on this date.
Is that association strong enough to use the word haram? I understand the argument and I respect it. Me personally, I use the word haram very sparingly because it's a very big word. I would be much more comfortable saying we should avoid it — actively participating, especially as adults — because of this ambiguity. This festival is not as neutral as the 4th of July.
No Shirk or Kufr — 1:04:22
But to use the word shirk or kufr — there's no basis for this. We're just throwing it around easier than candy on Halloween. It doesn't work that way. Where is shirk and kufr? Nobody in the world does Halloween because of ibadah. Nobody. Not the kids, not the parents. The people that are doing it have no ibadah in their minds. Where is the kufr? Which gods are they worshiping?
You want to go back all the way to the past? Then don't say Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday. You get my point. So kufr just doesn't come in. To say haram — I get it, but it's a very big word, and I personally would just say one should avoid it.
Empathy for Innocent Muslims — 1:04:58
The other question: what do you do with those innocent Muslims who don't have any idea that Halloween has all of this history? Because for them, it's literally just the kids are happy, they dress up, they go get some candy, and the parents have no nuance of any of this.
That's why I said, when it comes to that group of Muslims, empathize where they're coming from. Insha'Allah, Allah will forgive their ignorance. But they should not be encouraged. So don't be judgmental, don't be harsh — but neither should they be encouraged.
You should work to minimize this particular festival because it's not neutral. There are elements that deal with other-worldliness. And even if the kid dresses up like his favorite cartoon character — because from what I understand, the majority of kids don't dress up like demons and ghouls, they dress up as their cartoon characters — had Halloween from the beginning just been cartoons, we could have had a different verdict. Had Halloween just been a children's play, we could have had a different verdict. But because there's just that whiff of other-worldliness, we cannot have the same verdict as we do for others.
I would say as a default, we should work to encourage Muslims to rise above this. But if you know of a family that's semi-practicing — generally speaking, they are praying, they love Allah and His Messenger, and they don't view this as the biggest deal — work with them so that they're praying five times a day. Be wise in your priorities. If they're not praying five times a day, don't just jump up and down saying "haram, kufr, and shirk" when it comes to Halloween. They have far bigger issues to worry about. Work with them to bring them closer to the religion, and insha'Allah they'll be forgiven for this innocent ignorance, because it's not inherently shirk.