Are baby showers haram?

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
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Re: Are baby showers haram?

:smack:

I think she needs to read this excellent paper by Dr Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, “Islam and the Cultural Imperative”
http://www.nawawi.org/downloads/article3.pdf

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

[quote]
Kinda off topic but i dont like the concept of baby showers for one reason... and that is God forbid if something was to go wrong with the pregnancy (like the story quoted by Diamond123), and the baby doesn't make it :( what then? imagine the poor parents surrounded by all those presents :(

personally it makes so much more sense to celebrate the birth of a child after its birth.
[/quote]

By that logic, should a parent not buy any clothes, furniture, toys etc and not set up an nursery for the baby, or think of any names etc until he/she is born? And what about weddings, people might plan for a wedding and then die before the wedding, so no arrangements should be made till the morning of the wedding? I dont mean to insult those who have these views, but they just dont seem very practical to me. If someone personally feels like that, thats fine, thats their decision and they can do whatever they are comfortable doing. But you cannot impose such views on others, especially to the extent of calling it haraam to have a baby shower

23

Re: Are baby showers haram?

One of my closest friends is opposed to baby showers for this very reason. She does not go.

My family is big on showers or parties of any kind but we dont do godh bharai or anything like that…although this time even my sister said she wanted to wait after the baby is here Inshallah…:hmmm:

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

I'm not in a position to say whether or not its haram.

Of course ppl plan, and practically buy things needed for the baby from beforehand, but its the "celebrating" part that i'm not comfortable with. If someone is comfortable with it, then good for them.

i know someone close to their due date, and she's got issues with her pregnancy (please pray she has a smooth delivery and a healthy baby iA). Her siblings have decided to delay gifting the baby until after it arrives, just so that....

To each their own.

25

Re: Are baby showers haram?

is their anything in this world, which is halal ?

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

My sister wasn't interested in having baby showers (not because they're haram or anything) and its not like she didn't recieve any gifts or guests in her house, its just she wasn't too keen to invite a large crowd in her house.

I guess in some cases instances you have to have a 'baby shower' to get people to think about gifting you something, otherwise your family will give out the gifts whether you throw baby shower or not.

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

jewish people don’t have showers until after the baby is born for the “nazar na lagey” reason, so does that mean that postponing a baby shower until after the baby is born is also haram for muslims because now we’re doing what people in jewish culture do? :rolleyes: there is no end to all this silliness- once it starts, you can pretty much outlaw anything, and before you know it, you’re living in a cave all by yourself.

i’m iA having my shower in april, my baby is due end may/early june. Allah kheyr karey iA. HE is the one who will decide ultimately if my baby will be born and under what circumstances, and not whether or not my girlfriends want to throw a party for my husband and myself and all of our friends. isn’t the very concept of “tempting fate” haraam?

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

^ True.

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

Niksik,

this is an answer by a Shaykh who I respect and follow:

This is a social custom without any intrinsically reprehensible religious or moral connotations. As such, it is permissible if performed in a permissible manner, and without reprehensible meanings–such as wastefulness, extravagance, or undue social insistence (such that people who don’t participate or perform it are made to feel as if they’re doing something religiously-wrong).

And Allah alone gives success.
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

Thanks Afshi.

SO that's leads me to another question. How do you define extravagance?

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

True....the only issue is if people make it a ritual.......like having the godh bhara'ee only at a specific time during the pregnancy. When we are advised to do something we need to understand the reason behind it.....not simply follow the letter of the law.......

Establishing rituals and traditions is forbidden so that there is no change in the way Islam is supposed to be practiced. I even try to mix up the birthday and anniversary celebrations so that we are not doing them on the same day each year......

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

Allah na karay if something was to go wrong then you would have all those wonderful things to either save in memory of your child that has passed on or to donate in the name of your deceased child........ that's they way I look at it.

I would be thankful that Allah allowed me the privilege of experiencing pregnancy and would still consider myself lucky.
Easier said than done, I know.

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

baby showers are so cute and fun! I had one, no haraam stuff took place lol so i don't think it's haraam!

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

when people start throwing a baby shower for themselves!!!

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

You can do that...?!?!??
I would have thrown myself a few of them...:D

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

I am so doing that :vivo:

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

^LOL you two!!! yes I know two mommies who threw baby showers for themselves.. one of them didnt trust her friends choice and told everyone that she wanted it to be a perfect occassion so she decided to do so and yes she went overboard with everything- from invitations to favors!!

I dunno the reasons for the other one because I didnt attend that. :-D

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

^ Well my reason for doing it would be because I dont think any of my friends would do that for me!

Or I just might cheap out and not do anything at all. Let's see.

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Re: Are baby showers haram?

I had a baby shower kind of thing after my daughter was born. All our friends came to our house afterwards to see the baby and gave her something cute :) I like the idea of baby showers because I think the mother to be needs some time to enjoy her pregnancy and if she is nervous about delivery it relives her when she sees all the beautiful things for the baby!

40

Re: Are baby showers haram?

hmm isn't it true that anything new, introduced in Islam which was not a practice of our beloved prophet(SAW) and his sahaba considered haraam? No where in the islamic history would we find these kind of rituals, then wouldn't it be like adding a new thing in our deen which is being practiced today by masses and hence a bidah? just my two cents