Prohibition For Celebrating Valentines Day - Islamic Views

Valentines day is celebrated on February 14th as a festival of love and is becoming a part of the culture not only in the the west but also among the Muslims. It is important to understand where this comes from and why it is prohibited to celebrate this day.

Going Back To The Origin Of Valentines day- Where It comes From?
Since the origin of the human beings on this earth , people worshiped their creator in different ways. Allah sent messengers to different nations to guide them to the true path and to worship only one God and to stay away from the false gods but among the people some did worship one true God but some were misguided and either made idols to worship or some worshiped nature, like sun, moon, and some based their religion on the movement of the sun and the stars.
Similarly they had some myths in which they believed and gave spiritual importance. The Festival of love was celebrated by the pagan Roman like more than seventeen centuries ago in the mid of February. Later this festival was adopted by the Christians.

Where Does The Name Valentine Comes From? 
Saint Valentine  is the name given to two ancient martyrs of the christian church about whom it is believed that they died in Rome as the result of the persecution of the Gothic leader Claudius.
The Romans would not let man marry because they wanted them to serve in the army but this Saint was against it and helped people get married secretly. later when he was caught and executed he wrote a letter to a couple in the end stating from your Valentine and from here comes the origin of name valentines for this day.
When the Romans embraced Christianity , they continued to celebrate their 'festival of love' but just changed the name to 'martyrs of love' represented by saint valentine who advocated love and peace and with time it got the name 'valentines day'.

Why Should Muslims Not Celebrate Valentines Day?
After knowing the origin of valentines day it is clear that it is a pagan festival and Muslims has nothing to do with it but unfortunately nowadays this day is celebrated for fun, for exchanging gifts and flowers, to propose for a marriage and even by some people to get married on this day. Here i would like to summarize a few points why this day should not be given any importance by the Muslims and not to be celebrated:

1. Allah says in the Holy Quran in Surah Al-Imran Chapter 3 verse 85:

And whoever desires other than Islam as a religion, never will it be accepted from him and he, in the hereafter will be among the losers. 

Islam is a complete way of life and the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of our Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) are there to guide us how to live in this world. We Muslims do have our own days to celebrate and enjoy. These two days are Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr. Other than these two days we should not celebrate any other festival because it will be intimidating the non- believers without knowing the background.

2. Our Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) told us that groups of the Muslim ummah would follow the enemies of Allah in some of their rituals and customs as it is narrated in a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari volume 8 and Sahih Muslim volume 4 :

You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you, span by span, cubit by cubit, until even if they were to enter a lizard's hole, you would follow them. We (companions) said: O Messenger of Allah , (do you mean) the Jews and Christians? He (pbuh) said Who else.

Ant this is exactly what is happening to our Muslim ummah, we celebrate all the festivals like new year, valentines day, mother's day, father;s day, thanksgiving and Christmas like the non-believers celebrate it.

3. Since the name valentine comes after a saint and we Muslims do not worship any saints. We believe in only one God, Allah and worship Him alone we should not be celebrating this day.

4. Nowadays the concept of valentines day is interacting with the opposite gender, the day of love and romance and this is a clear form of fornication, adultery and lust which is totally prohibited in Islam.

5. Unfortunately this day is celebrated in schools which is brain washing the young kids and opening doors to making unlawful boy friend/girl friend relationships.

6. This day is all about love and being loved. But for a true Muslim the only aim should be the love of Allah alone. If we love Allah and Allah loves us, people will love us too and we should also love people only for Allah's sake.

7. Regarding the love between a married couple and them celebrating valentines day again there is a verse in the Holy Quran in Surah Rome chapter 30 verse 21:

And among His signs is this, that he created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquility with them and He has put love and mercy between your hearts, surely in that are signs for those who reflect. 

So A love between a husband and a wife should be there throughout the year not only on one specific day which has origins that are against Islamic teachings. If a married couple wants to celebrate a day together and enjoy why only this specific date , they can enjoy any day and more so on our own festivals of Eid.

8. It is not permissible for Muslims to imitate anything that is a part of the festival of the non believers and when speaking about valentines day we should also avoid exchanging flowers or gifts on this day even if it is between friends or married couples.

9. It is a day when people disobey Allah, they involve in fornication and are even not ashamed of what they are doing. This day promotes pornography and adultery, as well as open sexuality. Exchanging kisses in public etc all these are strictly against the teachings of Islam.

10. We Muslims should be proud of our own identity, we should avoid celebrating such a day and should condemn it instead of promoting it. Avoid even to post a silly comment on the Facebook or wishing a happy valentine to your married spouse.

May Allah guide us all to the true path. Ameen.