Avoiding Un-Islamic Customs **And the Islamic Concept of the Beginning of the Year** By Mufti Muhammad Abdul Hameed Shakir Toopran District Medak Telangana Islam is not merely a few acts of worship, specific recitations, or a few outward actions, but rather a comprehensive, all-encompassing, and universal system of life.

Mufti Muhammad Abdul Hameed Shakir Qasmi

Topran, District Medak, Telangana

Islam is not merely a name for a few acts of worship, specific invocations, or a few outward deeds, but rather a comprehensive, all-encompassing, and universal system of life that equally refines and regulates a person's intellectual structure, heartfelt states, moral frameworks, and social behaviors. Islam does not only tell a person how to prostrate, but it also teaches them how to understand time, how to celebrate happiness, how to endure sorrow, and how to preserve their faith identity in the changing days of life. This is why Islam has given its followers a unique identity, which consists of faith, dignity, modesty, moderation, purposefulness, and awareness of the Hereafter. When a community becomes heedless of this identity, it slowly begins to be colored in the colors of others, until its joys also become borrowed and its sorrows become subject to foreign thought.
Time is a witness that the beginning of the new year, which is merely a change in a phase of time, has today taken the form of an organized intellectual onslaught. On this occasion, amusement, shamelessness, mingling, music, fireworks, and sins are presented under the alluring titles of happiness, progress, and modernity, although in reality all of this is a means of pushing a person towards negligence, hardness of heart, and moral decline. Islam looks with suspicion at every attitude that makes a person heedless of the purpose of creation, because the Holy Quran clearly declares:
وَالْعَصْرِ، إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ۔
This verse is not just for recitation but for reflection and contemplation. Time is a trust from Allah Almighty that silently reduces a person's age, and every passing moment testifies whether a person has spent it in the obedience of Allah or wasted it in following the desires of the self.
The Holy Prophet ﷺ said that on the Day of Judgment, the servant's feet will not be able to move until he is asked about his life, where he spent it. This hadith shakes a person that the beginning of the year is not a celebration but a question, an accountability, a silent warning that another installment of life has ended. Alas, today this very moment of accountability has been turned into a gathering of negligence, and the night that was meant to be spent bowing before the Lord is spent bowing before the self.
The beginning of the Islamic calendar did not begin with the coronation of a king, the conquest of an empire, or a colorful celebration, but with the great event of Hijrah (migration), which is a bright symbol of sacrifice, steadfastness, and loyalty to the religion. Hijrah teaches us that leaving one's homeland for the sake of truth is also worship, separating from a false system is also faith, and enduring hardship for the protection of religion is the real success. When Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA) launched the Hijri calendar, he was as if giving the Ummah the message that a Muslim's year should begin with responsibility, not with negligence. This is why in the Islamic concept, the beginning of the year is an opportunity for repentance, self-assessment, and renewal of commitment, not a declaration of self-worship and freedom from sins.
The non-Islamic customs of the new year are actually part of a cultural project, through which the heat of faith is gradually cooled down, and modesty, honor, and religious zeal are taken out of the hearts by calling them outdated. The Holy Quran warns against this intellectual slip in this way: وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ، إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ. Satan never starts with open disbelief, but in the name of festivals, culture, and entertainment, he takes a person step by step on the path where sin becomes normal and obedience becomes alien.
The Holy Prophet ﷺ said: مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِقَوْمٍ فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ. This hadith is not limited to mere dress or outward resemblance, but extends to thought, culture, customs, and ways of happiness and sorrow. Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (RA) used to say that whoever celebrates the festivals of other nations, his heart slowly inclines towards them. The elders of the Ummah have made it clear that resemblance first enters into action, then makes a place in the heart, and finally weakens the faith. This is why non-Islamic customs are not just a matter of one night but a silent danger to faith.
Islam does not deny happiness, but it makes happiness subject to the limits of Sharia. The Quran says: قُلْ بِفَضْلِ اللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِ فَبِذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا. That is, happiness should be there, but for the grace and mercy of Allah, not for His disobedience. The happiness of the Prophet ﷺ used to be after worship, when a misguided person was guided, when a sinner repented. This was the happiness that softened the heart, moistened the eyes, and brought a person closer to Allah.
At the beginning of the year, the first question in the heart of a believer should be how close I have come to Allah in the past year, what improvement has come in my morals, whether my prayer, my dealings, and my character have brought me closer to Paradise or Hell. Hazrat Umar (RA) said that take account of yourselves before you are taken to account, and Hazrat Hasan Basri (RA) says that a believer is the hardest on his own self. This is the Islamic thought, this is the real message of the New Year.
Today, the biggest crisis of the Muslim Ummah is not military or economic but intellectual and cultural. When a Muslim is afflicted with a sense of inferiority instead of pride in his identity, he begins to consider the festivals of others as progress and his own religion as an obstacle, although the Quran declares: وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ. Honor is in obedience, not in imitation.
Every new year is actually a silent announcement that life is decreasing, the grave is approaching, and the respite is decreasing. Wise is the one who hears this announcement, and the conscious Muslim is the one who, while avoiding non-Islamic customs, makes every new year a means of drawing closer to Allah, not a cause of distancing from Him. May Allah Almighty grant us the value of time, the protection of faith, and steadfastness on our cultural identity. Amen, O Lord of the Worlds.
Mufti Muhammad Abdul Hameed Shakir
Topran, District Medak, Telangana

Islam is not merely a name for a few acts of worship, specific invocations, or a few outward deeds, but rather a comprehensive, all-encompassing, and universal system of life that equally refines and regulates a person's intellectual structure, heartfelt states, moral frameworks, and social behaviors. Islam does not only tell a person how to prostrate, but it also teaches them how to understand time, how to celebrate happiness, how to endure sorrow, and how to preserve their faith identity in the changing days of life. This is why Islam has given its followers a unique identity, which consists of faith, dignity, modesty, moderation, purposefulness, and awareness of the Hereafter. When a community becomes heedless of this identity, it slowly begins to be colored in the colors of others, until its joys also become borrowed and its sorrows become subject to foreign thought.
Time is a witness that the beginning of the new year, which is merely a change in a phase of time, has today taken the form of an organized intellectual onslaught. On this occasion, amusement, shamelessness, mingling, music, fireworks, and sins are presented under the alluring titles of happiness, progress, and modernity, although in reality all of this is a means of pushing a person towards negligence, hardness of heart, and moral decline. Islam looks with suspicion at every attitude that makes a person heedless of the purpose of creation, because the Holy Quran clearly declares:
وَالْعَصْرِ، إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ۔
This verse is not just for recitation but for reflection and contemplation. Time is a trust from Allah Almighty that silently reduces a person's age, and every passing moment testifies whether a person has spent it in the obedience of Allah or wasted it in following the desires of the self.
The Holy Prophet ﷺ said that on the Day of Judgment, the servant's feet will not be able to move until he is asked about his life, where he spent it. This hadith shakes a person that the beginning of the year is not a celebration but a question, an accountability, a silent warning that another installment of life has ended. Alas, today this very moment of accountability has been turned into a gathering of negligence, and the night that was meant to be spent bowing before the Lord is spent bowing before the self.
The beginning of the Islamic calendar did not begin with the coronation of a king, the conquest of an empire, or a colorful celebration, but with the great event of Hijrah (migration), which is a bright symbol of sacrifice, steadfastness, and loyalty to the religion. Hijrah teaches us that leaving one's homeland for the sake of truth is also worship, separating from a false system is also faith, and enduring hardship for the protection of religion is the real success. When Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA) launched the Hijri calendar, he was as if giving the Ummah the message that a Muslim's year should begin with responsibility, not with negligence. This is why in the Islamic concept, the beginning of the year is an opportunity for repentance, self-assessment, and renewal of commitment, not a declaration of self-worship and freedom from sins.
The non-Islamic customs of the new year are actually part of a cultural project, through which the heat of faith is gradually cooled down, and modesty, honor, and religious zeal are taken out of the hearts by calling them outdated. The Holy Quran warns against this intellectual slip in this way: وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ، إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ. Satan never starts with open disbelief, but in the name of festivals, culture, and entertainment, he takes a person step by step on the path where sin becomes normal and obedience becomes alien.
The Holy Prophet ﷺ said: مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِقَوْمٍ فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ. This hadith is not limited to mere dress or outward resemblance, but extends to thought, culture, customs, and ways of happiness and sorrow. Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (RA) used to say that whoever celebrates the festivals of other nations, his heart slowly inclines towards them. The elders of the Ummah have made it clear that resemblance first enters into action, then makes a place in the heart, and finally weakens the faith. This is why non-Islamic customs are not just a matter of one night but a silent danger to faith.
Islam does not deny happiness, but it makes happiness subject to the limits of Sharia. The Quran says: قُلْ بِفَضْلِ اللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِ فَبِذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا. That is, happiness should be there, but for the grace and mercy of Allah, not for His disobedience. The happiness of the Prophet ﷺ used to be after worship, when a misguided person was guided, when a sinner repented. This was the happiness that softened the heart, moistened the eyes, and brought a person closer to Allah.
At the beginning of the year, the first question in the heart of a believer should be how close I have come to Allah in the past year, what improvement has come in my morals, whether my prayer, my dealings, and my character have brought me closer to Paradise or Hell. Hazrat Umar (RA) said that take account of yourselves before you are taken to account, and Hazrat Hasan Basri (RA) says that a believer is the hardest on his own self. This is the Islamic thought, this is the real message of the New Year.
Today, the biggest crisis of the Muslim Ummah is not military or economic but intellectual and cultural. When a Muslim is afflicted with a sense of inferiority instead of pride in his identity, he begins to consider the festivals of others as progress and his own religion as an obstacle, although the Quran declares: وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ. Honor is in obedience, not in imitation.
Every new year is actually a silent announcement that life is decreasing, the grave is approaching, and the respite is decreasing. Wise is the one who hears this announcement, and the conscious Muslim is the one who, while avoiding non-Islamic customs, makes every new year a means of drawing closer to Allah, not a cause of distancing from Him. May Allah Almighty grant us the value of time, the protection of faith, and steadfastness on our cultural identity. Amen, O Lord of the Worlds.