Saudi Leading Cleric: Birthdays are Haram
Shortly after prominent Saudi cleric Salman al-Audah said on Saudi television that it was OK to celebrate birthdays for Moslems, the country’s grand mufti and top religious authority, Sheik Abdul-Aziz Al Sheik, responded saying that celebrating birthdays is a foreign innovation - a Christian one - and, as such, forbidden.”Christians have Mother’s Day, an eid for trees, and an eid for every occasion,” the enlightened and highly intelligent Al Sheik said. The previous mufti, Sheik Abdul-Aziz bin Baz, also considered it haram, forbidden, to celebrate birthdays. “It’s not permissible to take part in them,” he said. “Birthday parties are an innovation … and people are in no need of innovations,” this great Saudi Arabian thinker said several years ago. What is most interesting about this recent debate is that al-Audah broke with his fellow leading clerics publicly. Birthdays are considered ‘forbidden’ by most Saudis, especially by the religious leaders. They do not even support celebrating the birthday of the prophet Mohammed. Al-Audah obviously disagrees with that, believing it to be fine if people want to celebrate their own or someone else’s birthday. He did, however, point out that one should not call birthday’s eid. The reason for this is that an eid should be strictly religious, according to al-Audah that is. Eid is an Arabic word meaning “feast.” The entire debate is, of course, utterly silly. How anyone can take all those involved seriously is beyond me. “People are in no need of innovations” it is so incredibly telling, it is not even funny anymore. The idiocy behind the remark would be funny if these people did not influence and control millions of others. If they lived their lives quietly, not determining anything for anyone, they were allowed to make fools of themselves, but this is not the case; these intellectually disabled individuals actually oppress an entire people. Their words are, to a large degree, law.
"He did, however, point out that one should not call birthday’s eid. The reason for this is that an eid should be strictly religious, according to al-Audah that is. Eid is an Arabic word meaning “feast.” The entire debate is, of course, utterly silly…."
I would make pretty much the same argument for gay marriage. The idea that it can be called a union, but not a marriage relies on pretty much the same appeal to tradition and a one-sided definition of what is really just a word.
There is a hadith ascribed to Muhammad saying "All innovation in religion leads to hellfire", which was probably invented by traditionalists in the time of dispute between rationalist and traditionalist theologians.
Later, that hadith has been understood that new things should not alter the religious beliefs of Islam. But Wahhabites, the sect that dominates Saudi Arabia, is quite extreme on the innovation thing. They actually claim celebrating Muhammad’s birthday can lead people to hellfire
A.A.B.: for some reason I have a hard time believing God will send you to hellfire if you celebrate Mohammed’s birthday
When they speak about innovation they are in fact talking about innovations in the worship of God. The hadith quoted in comment 2 above is not the only source that determines that this kind of innovation is prohibited. The Qur’an explicitly states that the religion revealed to Muhammad was the completion of God’s message to mankind - "…this day i have perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you,and have chosen for you Islaam…" . With it came the final message regarding how God wants to be worshipped. Therefore anything else that is added to the worship (celebrations included) is considered an innovation which is rejected by Islam.