What R U Doing For New Year Eve

[umm Zachariah]

Assalamu aleikum,


KeepTheFaith,


I stumbled by your question and it disappeared again, maybe because I have no clear answer.


But let me anyway tell you how I think about this.


Celebrating New Year, whether it is in the Christian counting or the Islamic counting, is not something that should be celebrated, I have not been able to found a hadith that tell me I should. I ONLY know two occasions to celebrate and that is Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.


And for the question of wishing others a happy new year, well I have 'solved' it this way. All my non-muslim friends know I don't celebrate so no one wishes me anything, so we understand each other well. For other contacts I have, that are not aware of the Islamic teachings, and then occasionally someone wishes me that, and I thank them for their thought and at the same time tell them that the Islamic new year, even though not celebrated, is due to come insha'Allah. And they seem to be happy with this. They have delivered 'their message' and I have delivered 'mine'.


Wasalam