Halloween and other occasions

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

I forgot to mention this…

I love the way the candy is “begged” or “collected”.

:rolleyes:

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

My strategy is not to give any importance to such celebrations but at the same time don’t make a huge issue by telling my kids it’s haram etc. Last year I took this as an opportunity to teach them about pumpkins. This year they asked me to buy them arty magazines with Halloween theme and I bought them the magazines, they made some decorations and hanged them in their room. Kids can be fascinated with spiders, jack o lantern and other spooky things so I let them enjoy few aspects of Halloween so they don’t feel left out. You don’t know they might totally become rebels and start hating their deen if I am to become too strict on them.

But at the same time I don’t want them to get too excited about it and start throwing fancy dress and apple bobbing parties that later on they may start thinking it’s something important and it’s okay to have this sort of fun in a radical sort of way.

I don’t know…they may turn out totally normal or not so normal but I should do what I think is best for them.

I have never idealized a carefree fun life and may be that’s why the idea of Halloween seems absurd to me…or may be I just don’t like following norms. :confused:

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Funny that mostly women are participating in this thread.
Yesterday happened to be an occasion when I was in the car alone for a while and I tuned the radio to the local desi channel. A gentleman was speaking about how Halloween is in fact "Haram" and using all the key words: "pagan", "christian", "satanic" etc etc.

He was speaking in Urdu and explaining how we really mustn't allow our kids to dress up or go "ghar ghar bheek maNgnay". His tone was filled with loathing and hatred. His tempo and volume would rise as he would reach each point that he wanted to stress.

I listened for a good 10 minutes. When he started addressing the "mard hazraat" that "allow" their "auratain" to accompany the children for "hifazat" on their "bheek mangnay kay dauray" I became disgusted and turned the station.

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

^^ Our people are very insecure. Yes yes, throw rotten tomatoes at me if you will, but our muslim community living abroad is very insecure. I'm not worried about my children going offtrack because we make a big deal out of our festivals so they enjoy every bit of it. We even involve our neighbors. Share our Eid with them. We promote togetherness.

For people who classify these festivals as pagan, etc., I want to know about celebrating events such as mehendis and dholkis and birthday parties and such which are all nonIslamic events "borrowed" from other cultures. So how come it's alright to do all of that but come halloween, suddenly we're all super ethical and religious? All of a sudden to buy a bag of $7.99 candy becomes a pagan thing to do. Yep.

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

I've heard people in US have been dressing up as "muslim terrorists" with fake beards and burqas, is this true?

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Not people, only douchebag Chris Brown for a private Halloween party. He is a ginormous ass.

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

Let the kids have fun.

That's all I have to say :)

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hmmm...sad indeed. It's the biggest holiday in US, right? makes sense why everyone is so passionate about it...those who favour it and those who oppose it. lol

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

I haven't gone to any adult Halloween parties. I have no idea. Haven't seen any kids dressed up like that.

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omg....hareem.....you need to come live with us for a few months......I am floored at the impression you have of the USA.

I'm not suggesting that some disrespectful and ignorant folks might have thought it okay to dress as a "muslim terrorist" but this is by no stretch the "norm".

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

^^ Yes, actually having lived in the US for 20 years now, I have to say that I have never experienced any kind of racism. I think I've mentioned in threads before, we've prayed at waiting lounges in airports, DisneyWorld lawns, MacDonald's parking lots. Women roam freely wearing abayas and hijabs, drive around and go about their business. There's equal opportunity in employment.. check out some of our members on GS that enjoy good corporate careers in major companies. And heck, we even get halal chicken and samosas in Costco. :) Yes there may be some racism felt in certain states but it isn't anywhere near what outsiders think.

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

So adult muslims don't celebrate Halloween? Why?

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I'm sure some do. And I did go with my kids to their school halloween bash. I was just too lazy to wear a costume but I bet I looked scary enough as it was raining hard and my hair looked like Einstein's.

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nobody said that.
we definitely do.
we hand out candy and often dress up to do so.......
we've even been to costume balls at our daughter's school.

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oh okay. We don't have such events held in children's schools. I've seen people going to Halloween parties for booze only.

The Halloween is much bigger deal for Americans I guess.

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

I used to love trick or treating when I was younger, just because it was fun to make the costumes and dress up as a witch and go out in the dark with my cousins and friends. My brother and I also used to carve a pumpkin, but I had no idea about the whole pagan rituals and meaning behind Halloween. It was just some fun. Same with Pancake day - its was fun to make pancakes, or Bonfire night, it was fun to go to the massive display at the local park. Doesn’t mean that I was gonna start celebrating Lent, or celebrate the fact Guy Fawkes got caught and didn’t blow up Parliament.

(BTW if anyone has photos of a pumpkin they have carved there is a competition going on in Canvas! http://www.paklinks.com/gs/canvas/581726-halloween-pumpkin-carving-competition.html)

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Re: Halloween and other occasions

um hareem

I just met about 12 british kids living in UK and they told me they celebrated halloween. Going door to door. it may not be as big as it is in US but they sure celebrate it.
I know I did when I was in Indonesia/Philippines/Thailand. My mom made our (my sister and I) costumes when we were little and she doesn't care at all about halloween.

I think I would celebrate halloween and other occasions perhaps not in Pakistan but in my own home, making costumes and such.

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The British despise Halloween and it is done reluctantly ... Many traditional Brits blame the people who celebrate it for trying to Americanise the UK.

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​halloween isnt rooted in religion so i see no harm in participating however i dont condone the celebration of christmas easter etc

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if you celebrated halloween you will go to hell. muahahaha.. :D

<-- this is how muslims scare each other on halloween