When will the racism ends?

It hasn’t been long that I started my new journey as a businessman. We’ve our ancestral business of glass beads (Potay products) located at Indrachowk. It’s is a different kind of feeling that I am going through since I became the one – The Muslim Businessman. I didn’t want to be specific but to put my points here I am writing ‘The Muslim Businessmen’. Clad in a traditional Muslim dress wearing a Muslim cap along with beards, I sit and wait for a customer in a smiley face – a woman comes and browse the shop and asks, “Bhaiya, yes ko katti ho?” Listening to this word ‘bhaiya’ in a racist voice makes me feel bad and in reply I say, “Yes ko 250 ho behenji.” The woman then questions me, “Why did you call me behenji instead of didi?” I reply, “If you could say me bhaiyya not dai, then why can’t I call you behenji instead of didi?” and that woman says, “You speak Nepali well bhaiyya, how did you learn to speak it so fluently, your Nepali is better than us.” I reply to her, “We are Nepali.” “But you look like a Muslim,” says a woman. “Yes, I am. Our fore-forefathers all have lived here since long,” I say. “Then where is your home?” “Here in Maitidevi, Kathmandu and yours?” “In India…” she says.

This is just a common conversation that I’ve to deal with every other day – be it foreigners or so called Nepali, they have their fixed questions set to ask us and I have to explain them exactly as in the above conversation.  I haven’t realized before coming to this profession that people would be so biased towards this religious group in Nepal. Their perception of us being an outsider especially an Indian citizen and treating and talking to us in a different way makes me feel irked. I just don’t understand that every other person is Nepali except the one who is a Muslim especially those Muslims who wears the traditional Muslim dress, a Muslim cap and has a beard on his face? How often we have to clarify that we are Nepali also a Muslim unlike other religious groups residing here in Nepal? Is it a crime that despite being a citizen of Nepal since many centuries and helping nation in different forms and just because of being a Muslim we are an outsider to our own home country – Nepal? When will the racism ends – oh!  It seems it won’t end soon, as the most powerful nation US has a candidate who has a strong biasness towards Muslims and he wants to sweep this group from its roots. How long Muslims have to struggle to have their own identity with their own ideologies living harmony with other religious groups in unison? It seems we have a long way to look forward. Hope still persists for good.

It's Bid'ah to celebrate the Birthday or death anniversary of Prophet Muhammad

I am really sad today. The reason behind it is that the so called Muslims celebrated the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). It was celebrated with fanfare taking out rallies in Kathmandu. Infact celebration of any birthday, death anniversary, marriage anniversary is not permissible in Islam. This is what Prophet Muhammad said. But today, astagfirullah, the people have flocked on to the roads and chanted slogans on his birthday. Celebrating the birthday is a Bid'ah in Islam.

Instead, what one should do when they complete a year is to thank Allah and ask Allah for a long life span and blessings in his/her life. This is how we should celebrate our birthdays. The happiness during ones birthday should not be expressed like the customary birthday celebrations in which there is only entertainment and merry.  Islam guides towards the notion that every single day one is blessed to be alive is a day of celebration and a cause to be grateful and thankful to the Lord Creator for his innumerable blessings and favors. Besides, Islam has nominated its own special days of joyous commemoration and celebration, namely the two blessed days of Eid (Fitr and Adha) and every Friday of the week.

Then, What is Bid'ah?

In Islam, Bid'ah (Arabic: بدعة‎‎; English: innovation) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".

The commands mentioned in the Qur'an and sunnah to follow the laws of Allah and His Messenger, and the prohibitions on introducing innovations into the religion are quite clear. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

"Say (O Muhammad to mankind): 'If you (really) love Allah, then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur'an and the sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you your sins'."
Al-Qur'an 3:31

"Follow what has been sent down unto you from your Lord (the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad's sunnah), and follow not any awliya' (protectors and helpers who order you to associate partners in worship with Allah), besides Him (Allah). Little do you remember!"
Al-Qur'an 7:3

Among the reprehensible innovations that people have invented is the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal. They celebrate this occasion in various ways:

Some of them simply make it an occasion to gather and read the story of the Mawlid, then they present speeches and qasidah (odes) for this occasion;
Some of them make food and sweets etc., and offer them to the people present;
Some of them hold these celebrations in the mosques, and some of them hold them in their houses; and
Some people do not limit themselves to the actions mentioned above; they include in these gatherings haram and reprehensible things, such as free mixing of men and women, dancing and singing, or committing actions of shirk such as seeking the help of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, calling upon him, seeking his support against their enemies and so on.
Whatever form it takes and whatever the intentions of those who do this are, there is no doubt whatsoever that it is an invented, haram innovation which was introduced after the three best centuries in order to corrupt the religion of the Muslims. The first person to do this after them was the King al-Muzaffar Abu Sa'id Kawkaburi, the King of Irbil, at the end of the sixth century or the beginning of the seventh century after hijrah, as was mentioned by the historians such as Ibn Khalikan and others. Abu Shamah said, "The first person to do that in Mosul was Shaykh 'Umar ibn Muhammad al-Mala, one of the well-known righteous people. Then the ruler of Irbil and others followed his example."

Ruling on Celebrating the Prophet's Birthday

Celebrating the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is forbidden and is to be rejected for a number of reasons:

1. It is not part of the sunnah of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or of the Caliphs who succeeded him. Since this is the case, then it is a forbidden innovation, because the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, "I urge you to follow my sunnah and the way of the rightly-guided Caliphs after me; adhere to it and cling to it firmly. Beware of newly-invented things, for every newly-invented thing is an innovation (bid'ah) and every innovation is a going-astray."[Narrated by Ahmad, 4/126; at-Tirmidhi no. 2676]
Celebrating the mawlid is an innovation introduced after the three best centuries in order to corrupt the religion of the Muslims. If a person does anything in order to draw closer to Allah which was not done by the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or enjoined by him, and was not done by the Caliphs who succeeded him, this action implies that he is accusing the Messenger of not explaining the religion to the people, and that he disbelieves in the words of Allah (interpretation of the meaning), "This day, I have perfected your religion for you." [Al-Qur'an 5:3] Because he is adding something extra and claiming that it is a part of the religion, but the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, did not bring this.

2. Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is an imitation of the Christians, because they celebrate the birth of the Messiah, peace be upon him. Imitating them is extremely haram. The hadith tells us that it is forbidden to imitate the kuffar, and we are commanded to differ from them. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." [Narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawud, 4/314] And he said, "Be different from the mushrikin." [Narrated by Muslim, 1/222, no. 259] This is especially with regard to things that are the symbols or rituals of their religion.

3. Besides being bid'ah and an imitation of the Christians, both of which are haram, celebrating the birthday of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is also a means that leads to exaggeration and excess in venerating him, which even goes as far as calling upon him (making du'a' to him) and seeking his help, instead of calling upon Allah, as happens now among many of those who observe the bid'ah of the mawlid, when they call upon the Messenger instead of Allah, and ask him for support, and sing qasidah(odes) of shirk praising him, like Qasidat al-Burdahetc.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, forbade going to extremes in praising him, as he said, "Do not extol as the Christians extolled the son of Maryam. For I am just His slave, so say, the slave of Allah and His Messenger," [Narrated by al-Bukhari, 4/142, no. 3445; al-Fath, 6/551], i.e., do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians exaggerated in praising the Messiah and venerated him until they worshipped him instead of Allah. Allah forbade them to do that when he said (interpretation of the meaning), "O people of the Scripture (Christians)! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, nor say of Allah aught but the truth. The Messiah 'Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah and His Word, ("Be!" — and he was) which He bestowed on Maryam (Mary) and a spirit (Ruh) created by Him." [Al-Qur'an4:171] Our Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, forbade us to exaggerate concerning him lest the same thing happen to us as happened to them, so he said, "Beware of exaggeration, for those who came before you were destroyed because of exaggeration." [Narrated by an-Nasa'i, 5/268; classed as sahih by al-Albani in Sahih Sunan al-Nasa'i, no. 2863]

4. Observing the innovation of the Prophet's birthday opens the door to other kinds of bid'ah and being distracted by them from the sunnah. Hence you find that the innovators are very active when it comes to bid'ah and very lazy when it comes to the sunnah; they hate it and regard those who follow it as enemies, until their entire religion is innovated anniversaries and mawlids. They have split into various groups, each of which commemorates the anniversary of its Imam's birth, such as the births of al-Badawi, Ibn 'Arabi, al-Dasuqi and al-Shadhili. No sooner do they end the celebration of one birthday but they start the celebration of another. This results in exaggeration concerning these dead people and others, and in calling upon them instead of Allah, believing that they can bring benefit and cause harm, until they deviate from the religion of Allah and go back to the religion of the people of the jahiliyyah of whom Allah says (interpretation of the meaning), "And they worship besides Allah things that harm them not, nor profit them, and they say: 'These are our intercessors with Allah'," [Al-Qur'an10:18] and "And those who take awliya' (protectors, helpers, lords, gods) besides Him (say): 'We worship them only that they may bring us near to Allah'." [Al-Qur'an 39:3]

Oh my Muslim brother and sister at least learn the basics of Islam before its too late to pass the information to the next-generation if they ask you about it. I am worried that due to lack of true knowledge you might pass the wrong information or sometimes made up of your own interpretation which is a Bid'ah. So please don’t be fooled by the fancy and easy things. Think of how you might present yourself when in the judgement day in front of Allah SWT.

May Allah SWT guide us and bless us with true knowledge.