Can we wish non-Muslims "happy holi", "happy Diwali", etc.?

Question

I am working in MNC software company. Over here all employees, mostly non-Muslims, wish each other with "Good morning" and "Good night". And during special festival with "Happy Holi", "Happy Diwali" etc.

So, is this allowed in Islam? Can we wish them during ordinary days and during festivals?

Are there any alternatives to wishing them with "Good morning" and "Good night"?

EDIT

Thanks Everyone, i got answer for secular greetings (good morning), that we can wish them,

But can we wish religious greetings (happy diwali , happy holi,...) ?

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Final EDIT

Thanks everyone..

I Got answers of my questions.

Yes, We can greet non-muslims with Good Morning or Good Night.

But, We can not wish non-muslims to on their Religious Festival.

Reference:

Fatawa Mahmoodiya 19/567,
Kitabul Fatawa 1/304

http://masaail.com/diwali-aur-un-ke-naye-saal-ki-mubarakbadi-dena/

Answer 1

Sorry but I totally disagree with Maythux's answer. It's forbidden in Islam to wish non-Muslim on Diwali and Christmas and other religious festivals as it's the biggest sin (shirk) in Islam and wishing on Christmas and Diwali (like saying "happy Diwali") implies we are greeting that "I'm really praying that you enjoy your day associating partners with Allah". Astagfirullah. Never do this. May Allah guide us.

Answer 2

We can not wish non-muslims to on their Religious Festival.

Reference:

Fatawa Mahmoodiya 19/567

Kitabul Fatawa 1/304

Answer 3

In the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Kind

All praise and thanks are due to God, the Lord of the worlds. We cannot find words to praise Him, as He only sees fit how laudation should be addressed to Him. We seek refuge in God from the evils within ourselves and the evils of our bad deeds. Whosoever God guides will never be led astray, and whosoever He leads astray will never find guidance. We bear witness that there is no god but God, the One without any associate, and We bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger and bondman, peace and blessings be upon him, his kith and kin, his Companions and all those who follow their guidance until the Day of Judgment

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your question: Can we greet non Muslims on their festivals?

answer: The basic principle is that, it is totally prohibited to congratulate non Muslims on their feasts because it is involves all types of forbidden things such as: shirk in Christmas, adultery(kissing and love) in Valentine's Day. And some say it is merely a word when you greet non Muslims as long as you don't believe in others's feasts. And I'm gonna try to explain my best of ability.

The reason why it is prohibited is that it is involves all types of falsehood and we cannot agree with falsehood but only with truth. We have "Festival of Sacrifice" and "Minor Festival". And the Prophet has prohibited us this. God Says:

"Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than God, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, God is Forgiving and Merciful." [The Table Spread, 5:3]

So, here we learn that we should not involve in anything which God Almighty has prohibited us to do such as telling lies. God Almighty also Says:

"Or have they other deities who have ordained for them a religion to which God has not consented? But if not for the decisive word, it would have been concluded between them. And indeed, the wrongdoers will have a painful punishment" [The Consultation, 42:21]

So based on this, it is not permitted even to say to a non Muslim "happy birthday" or "happy New Year" or "Mary Christmas" or "happy holidays" or "happy Diwwali" because it involves all types of falsehood and we should not be partners in sin no matter what.

Quran says that every nation has its own festival and we have ours which is "Minor Festival" and "Festival of Sacrifice".

Anas ibn Maalik, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Prophet ( may Allah exalt his mention ) arrived in Medina while people were celebrating two particular festivals, so he ( may Allah exalt his mention ) asked: “What is (the significance of) these two days?” Some people replied: ‘They are days which we used to celebrate during the pre-Islamic era.’ So the Messenger ( may Allah exalt his mention ) replied: “God has replaced them for you with two days which are better, the day of ‘Eid Al-Fitr and ‘Eid Al-Adh-haa”" [Abu Daawood].

Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to celebrate other than these two festivals, because is it not one of the celebrations of the Muslims.

the Prophet ( may Allah exalt his mention ): “He who imitates a people will be from among them (on the Day of Judgement).” [Abu Daawood]

CONCLUSION: So, a Muslim cannot celebrate non Muslim's festivals because it involves a lot of haram things such as: wine, singing, musical instruments, pork, shirk and falsehood and many more. But only those 2 festivals we have are the only one who has true faith. But if you are forced in this, and you have tried to escape this haram, then you are in safe area.

We ask God to guide us to the Straight Path and to make us all people of Paradise. May God send blessings and peace upon His slave and Messenger Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

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References:

• Celebrating birthdays is not allowed
• Ruling on celebrating non-Muslim holidays and congratulating them
• Congratulating non muslims on Christmas, New Year and other festivals
• Wish others Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday or Seasons Greetings or Happy New Year! By Mufti Menk
• Imitating non-Muslims and the celebration of the New Year

Answer 4

No.

• Initiating greetings to non-Muslims, even the Islamic greeting of As-salamu alaykum (Peace be on you), is haram or makruh based on the hadith:

  لا تبدءوا اليهود ولا النصارى بالسلام فإذا لقيتم أحدهم في طريق فاضطروه إلى أضيقه

  Do not initiate the greeting with the Jews or Christians, and if you meet one of them on the street, drive him to the narrowest part of it

  ^{— Muslim}

  And initiating the greeting of festivals is analogous if not worse.

• Wishing each other is a ritual part of their religion. And imitating non-muslims in their religion is forbidden:

  من تشبه بقوم فهو منهم

  He who copies any people is one of them.

  ^{— Abu Dawud}

• Their religious festivals are acts of shirk and kufr and wishing them on it implicitly indicates that you content with their kufr. Will it be acceptable for you to celebrate a murderer at the occasion of killing someone? Then how can it be acceptable to wish someone on committing shirk which is the greatest sin?

  ومن أظلم ممن افترى على الله كذبا أو كذب بآياته

  And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie or denies His verses?

  ^{— Quran 6:21}

  إن الشرك لظلم عظيم

  Indeed shirk is great injustice.

  ^{— Quran 31:13}

  Rather the mark of a Muslim is that he hates and discourages sins:

  وكره إليكم الكفر والفسوق والعصيان

  [Allah has] ... made hateful to you disbelief, defiance and disobedience

  ^{— Quran 49:7}

  من رأى منكم منكرا فليغيره... فإن لم يستطع فبقلبه، وذلك أضعف الإيمان

  Whoever among you sees an evil action, then let him change it ... if he cannot then [by hating it] with his heart – and that is the weakest of faith.

  ^{— Muslim}

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Ref:

وأما التهنئة بشعائر الكفر المختصة به فحرام بالاتفاق، مثل أن يهنئهم بأعيادهم وصومهم، فيقول: عيد مبارك عليك، أو تهنأ بهذا العيد، ونحوه، فهذا إن سلم قائله من الكفر فهو من المحرمات، وهو بمنزلة أن يهنئه بسجوده للصليب، بل ذلك أعظم إثما عند الله وأشد مقتا من التهنئة بشرب الخمر وقتل النفس وارتكاب الفرج الحرام ونحوه. وكثير ممن لا قدر للدين عنده يقع في ذلك، ولا يدري قبح ما فعل فمن هنأ عبدا بمعصية أو بدعة أو كفر فقد تعرض لمقت الله وسخطه

Congratulating the non-Muslims on the rituals that belong only to them is prohibited by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival ,’ and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from [falling into] disbelief, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that.

It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realise the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or Bid'ah or disbelief exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allah.

^{— Ahkam Ahl Al-Dhimmah}

Answer 5

There is nothing wrong with this - being cordial to others (even non-Muslims), respect and well treatment of guests are all qualities of a good Muslim.

In case you are wondering if this is a language thing; it is not. At my office we often greet each other with the Arabic equivalent of good morning.

Answer 6

Islam means humanity, morality and goodness towards others.

During the Prophet's time a Jew used to throw his wastes on the Prophet door and on his path. In spite of that when the Jew got sick, the Prophet went to visit him at his home. And this is how we should be.

So it's a good thing to make good wishes for others even though if they are not Muslim. Moreover, you should be so, because this is what Allah asked us to be like.

Note: The only thing that you shouldn't wish a non-Muslims with is Salam Alaykum which is an Islamic greeting. This the only greeting that should be used for Muslims, but in general you can and you should be nice to others.

Answer 7

in This world there are several religions. good words or bad words should be come from the religious books only. if we are a muslim we must not compormise on aqeeda. once we wish other religion matters then where is the different to being obidency of own book? same in hindu, if a hindu does not know his way then where is the different in him from others? let religious matter to be celebrate by their own community without harming others. The maximum can do a person is to convince the true path and good things thats all.

Answer 8

When we say "Wishing you a happy ______", we are just wishing them happiness on the said day. We need not study the history of the celebration or whatever purpose they are celebrating it, it is their duty to study that and we need not have to worry why they are celebrating. Just like we Muslims celebrate 2 eids and people of other faith wish us happiness on that day we just reciprocate it on their celebrations days.

When a (courteous) greeting is offered you, meet it with a greeting still more courteous, or (at least) of equal courtesy. Allah takes careful account of all things. Quran 4:86

For example, a non muslim who wish us on Eid ul Adha may be a vegetarian who do not believe that the sacrifice of animal is good but he may still wish us a happy Eid. So we need not have to believe in their religion to just wishing them happiness on their celebration day.

This is just my understanding from my study, use your own study or ask a learned scholar about this issue.

Answer 9

In the US it is common to say 'Happy Holidays' rather than Merry Christmas or Happy New Year. This practice became common because of the influence of the Jewish population, who like us, also cannot express wishes for festivals of others faiths such as Christian festivals.