Islam's Take on Birthday Celebrations | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini

6 المشاهدات· 22/04/07

Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo
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Islam's Take on Birthday Celebrations | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo

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[0:02]i begin in the name of the almighty god the compassionate the

[0:08]merciful the one who has created everything in utmost perfection and may

[0:13]the peace and blessings of the almighty god be upon his pure

[0:16]and beloved messenger the peak of his creation the symbol of humanity

[0:20]the holy prophet muhammad and his immaculate progeny of the bait peace

[0:31]be upon them especially the leader of our time the awaited savior

[0:39]may allah hasten his reappearance and make us all amongst the sincere

[0:44]and dedicated servants allah subhanahu ta'ala states in surat in describing the

[0:52]believers one of the descriptions is those who avoid lagu means diversion

[1:02]something that you do in vain an activity that has no purpose

[1:09]aimless entertainment all of this falls under the definition of allah my

[1:14]dear brothers and sisters one of the beautiful aspects of the month

[1:20]of ramadan is that we reflect on our daily lives the month

[1:23]of ramadan is a month of reflection for you to evaluate every

[1:28]aspect of your life now one of the dimensions that i would

[1:35]like to discuss with you tonight briefly in our life and in

[1:38]our modern culture is how we celebrate our birthdays yes you heard

[1:44]that right tonight we will be discussing the significance of celebrating our

[1:50]birthdays and what would be the islamic perspective on that if i

[1:55]want to be in line with islamic teachings islamic guidelines with the

[2:01]spirit of the religion of islam how should i celebrate my birthday

[2:05]today celebrating our birthdays is very important in our culture right people

[2:10]look forward to their birthdays not everyone most people there i know

[2:14]some people get depressed on their birthdays but most people they look

[2:19]forward to their birthdays they really enjoy that day you know they're

[2:24]waiting for that party to be thrown in honor of their birthday

[2:29]it's something that we really care about in our modern society in

[2:32]fact you expect people around you to congratulate you on your birthday

[2:38]people close to you if they forget it's an offense right you

[2:41]may not forgive some people for forgetting your birthday especially your loved

[2:48]ones they say the best way to never forget your wife's birthday

[2:51]is to forget it only once and you'll never forget it after

[2:54]that again because you'll know what happens when you forget it once

[2:58]so it's something that's very important in our culture today now why

[3:02]is it that people celebrate birthdays since ancient times history shows shows

[3:09]us that different civilizations did celebrate their birthdays people as early as

[3:15]the roman civilization it was common for them to celebrate their birthdays

[3:19]every year so this something this is something that's very common in

[3:24]human history now there are two primary reasons why people celebrate their

[3:28]birthdays number one it makes you feel loved when you see people

[3:35]congratulating you giving you gifts throwing you a party you appreciate that

[3:39]you feel that others care about you you feel that you are

[3:43]loved by other people around you so that's why people like to

[3:47]celebrate their birthdays the second reason is because it gives you time

[3:51]with family and friends sometimes life is very distracting life can become

[3:58]very tough and so to have that day of your birthday when

[4:01]family and friends gather to congratulate you it's something you look forward

[4:05]to and also you're at the center of attention during your birthday

[4:12]right we human beings we crave attention who does not like attention

[4:16]we all love attention now on your birthday you're the center of

[4:19]the attention you become the center of the universe so you enjoy

[4:23]that you like that these are common reasons why people enjoy celebrating

[4:31]their birthday and they consider it a very significant day now let's

[4:36]offer the religious perspective on that what are the concerns with the

[4:42]way people are celebrating their birthdays these days and how can we

[4:45]make our birthdays productive let's begin with the first part what are

[4:50]some of the common concerns that we have from a religious spiritual

[4:54]perspective on how people celebrate their birthdays these days the first concern

[5:01]is the amount of spending that occurs on birthdays some parents some

[5:11]well-off parents they spend easily 50 000 on the birthday of their

[5:19]child this is becoming more and more common birthday parties one of

[5:22]the brothers saying that's good right one of the you know as

[5:27]as time progresses in our modern society birthday parties are becoming more

[5:34]and more lavish simple birthday parties are a thing of the past

[5:40]right people don't expect to have a a simple birthday celebration anymore

[5:44]they're becoming more and more lavish in fact the average parent spends

[5:49]on the first birthday of their child right when the child's still

[5:53]an infant it's like it's not like they get it they know

[5:56]what the birthday is right the average parent spends five hundred dollars

[6:00]now as the child gets older the expense gets more and more

[6:05]one study in the uk showed that the average parent will spend

[6:13]28 000 on the birthday of one child up until the age

[6:19]of 21.

[6:18]so that's 28 000 being spent during those 20 years just on

[6:25]birthday celebrations so we find that the spending has increased and what's

[6:30]driving these birthday celebrations to become more and more lavish is social

[6:34]media when you go and you see your cousin and your neighbor

[6:36]and your friend on insta on instagram on tick tock on social

[6:42]media showing what a fancy birthday they had that puts pressure on

[6:46]you and that's why more and more parents feel pressured to spend

[6:50]more and more these days with a lot of birthday celebrations you

[6:54]have to find a nice venue or if it's in your nice

[6:57]backyard you have to bring in a company who's going to do

[7:02]the decor for you right some families will not settle for a

[7:04]simple birthday it has to be very lavish you have to have

[7:09]that nice venue that nice custom-made cake the nice gift bags the

[7:15]bounce house you name it it all comes with a package these

[7:18]days one poor brother he had a pretty simple wedding he says

[7:22]one day i went to a birthday celebration in a beautiful hall

[7:25]with all the decor he said when i saw that i felt

[7:30]ashamed of my own wedding i said this birthday is fancier than

[7:35]the wedding that i had and this is becoming more and more

[7:38]frequent more and more often in our communities we find more spending

[7:42]on birthday celebrations now the concern with that is is this really

[7:47]the best way to use the resources allah has given us that's

[7:52]a significant concern yes you've made your money from allah bless you

[7:57]but allah will still expect from you to use your resources wisely

[8:01]spending thousands of dollars on a birthday celebration is that really the

[8:06]wisest way to spend your money aren't there other priorities out there

[8:10]in life aren't there people who are more in need can't you

[8:16]do more good with this money so honestly this rise in spending

[8:21]is very disturbing this is not a good use of the resources

[8:25]that allah subhanahu ta'ala has given us this is the first concern

[8:30]the second concern my dear brothers and sisters with many birthday parties

[8:36]these days is this is the feeling of entitlement that our kids

[8:40]have kids these days they expect huge celebrations from their parents and

[8:46]they will be upset if their parents don't give them that fancy

[8:51]birthday party so there is a great expectation from the younger generation

[8:56]to have lavish birthday celebrations and in fact some kids are judging

[9:03]their parents whether they're good parents or not by how much they

[9:06]spend on that birthday that's not a healthy way of looking at

[9:09]your parents if my mom and dad did not spend x amount

[9:13]of money that means they're not good parents and my neighbors parents

[9:16]are better this is a skewed understanding of parenting what makes a

[9:23]good parent is the way they raise you their moral values their

[9:26]ethical standards their their true love and compassion not how much money

[9:31]they shell out on your birthday party that's never an indicator of

[9:34]whether you're a good parent or not and so the expectations are

[9:40]changing from the younger generation and this is honestly a concern the

[9:45]third concern with many of these birthday celebrations is that many of

[9:53]them they involve sins or negative you know behaviors that you find

[9:58]in these birthday celebrations on the day of your birthday you should

[10:02]thank allah not commit sins you know how americans celebrate their birthdays

[10:08]many of them who are adults they celebrate it by drinking by

[10:15]getting drunk especially that 21st birthday how many times have you heard

[10:18]a person end up in the hospital because on their 21st birthday

[10:24]they can now legally drink they go and they binge drink to

[10:28]the point that they have to be hospitalized is this how you

[10:30]celebrate your birthday by sinning by doing something immoral like that a

[10:36]lot of celebrations you find sins being committed unfortunately now even in

[10:42]our communities my dear brothers and sisters you'll see a lot of

[10:46]birthday celebrations it's a mixed gathering the proper hijab is not being

[10:51]observed there's haram music and singing i know families who may pray

[10:54]but they bring a dj they bring a singer to their birthday

[10:58]celebration is that how you thank allah on your birthday that's an

[11:03]act of sin so the third concern with birthday celebrations is that

[11:08]some of them involve sinful behavior that is indeed very concerning so

[11:15]when you find the way that people are celebrating their birthdays these

[11:20]days honestly it is concerning and this is becoming more and more

[11:25]difficult for many people to manage and it's an expectation there's a

[11:31]lot of social pressure on you to celebrate these birthdays in ways

[11:34]that may not make allah subhanahu ta'ala happy so now we mentioned

[11:41]the main concerns there are some other concerns but these are the

[11:45]main concerns now my dear brothers and sisters how can we offer

[11:48]a solution here how can we make our birthdays productive number one

[11:54]on the day of your birth thank allah for all the blessings

[12:01]that he's given you remember you have a creator who blessed you

[12:04]and he allowed you to see your birthday thank him you know

[12:08]on your birthday there are some interesting statistics they mentioned for your

[12:11]birthday it's nice to know them at least you can thank allah

[12:16]more so when a year has passed on your birthday realize that

[12:21]in the previous year on average you breathed 15 million times 15

[12:26]million times you took oxygen oxygen that belongs to allah subhanahu wa

[12:31]oxygen that allah has made available for you thank allah for that

[12:37]do we thank allah for these things honestly people don't care right

[12:41]we take these for granted now during the covet crisis some people

[12:45]knew the value of oxygen when they needed a ventilator and they

[12:51]didn't have access to one now you knew the value of this

[12:53]oxygen when you have trouble breathing then you know thank allah subhana

[12:59]15 million times i breathed in the last year thank you allah

[13:02]for letting me breathe that's a beautiful way to celebrate your birthday

[13:07]688 thousand liters of blood got circulated in your body you know

[13:13]how much that is that will fill multiple swimming pools thank allah

[13:18]subhanut allah for giving you a beautiful system giving you a heart

[13:22]for giving you a body that functions so well be inspired by

[13:27]the creation of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that's a great way to

[13:32]start your birthday thank allah for all the blessings that he's given

[13:36]you the blessings of health access to education having a place a

[13:41]home a family this is a great way my dear brothers and

[13:43]sisters to thank allah subhanahu ta'ala on your birthday so that's the

[13:50]first recommendation to make it productive because when you make something productive

[13:53]it becomes an act of obedience anything that brings you closer to

[13:58]allah allah will reward you and by the way that is why

[14:03]we celebrate the birth of the prophet salallahu and the imams because

[14:08]that's purposeful celebration because these individuals they teach us how to worship

[14:14]allah how to go to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala celebrating their birth

[14:17]is an act of worship because it's a way to glorify the

[14:21]religion of god it's a way to glorify the symbols of god

[14:26]dali kawaman you have them why we celebrate their birthdays because we

[14:32]learn on that day we learn from their life we learn from

[14:37]their legacy so it's important to make it purposeful and productive that's

[14:40]the first recommendation the second recommendation my dear brothers and sisters that

[14:46]i have for your birthday is do something unique that educates others

[14:52]on the day of your birthday ask those people who have come

[14:57]to congratulate you who brought you the cake ask them to make

[15:00]a special dua for you normally you're told make three wishes and

[15:03]blow the candle this time you tell them before i do that

[15:08]make a dua for me ask them to make a special prayer

[15:13]for you that session becomes an act of ibadah if you ask

[15:17]allah subhanahu ta'ala for a beautiful request number two share with them

[15:23]something that you've learned something you've inspired by share with them who

[15:27]your heroes are on the day of your birthday tell your friends

[15:30]i would like to share with you how prophet muhammad has changed

[15:34]my life how imam hussain has changed my life you youngsters how

[15:40]imam jawad has changed your life remember he was six when he

[15:43]became the imam officially and he shows you the value of knowledge

[15:47]and education take a story from imam al-jawad alaihi and share it

[15:53]with your friends take a beautiful verse from the quran a short

[15:56]chapter from the quran and tell your friends this is what i've

[16:01]learned this year and i would like to share it with you

[16:04]it's a beautiful way my dear brothers and sisters to make this

[16:08]celebration a purposeful one because believers don't do anything that's aimless any

[16:17]diversion anything that's in vain the true believers they avoid that and

[16:22]allah subhanahu ta'ala will bless you for that so something simple even

[16:27]if it's two minutes i'm not asking you to turn your celebration

[16:30]into a medjlist right into an official speech i know that will

[16:36]be awkward for you but one minute nice reflections something you've learned

[16:39]throughout the year share it with your friends during your birthday that's

[16:44]a beautiful way to thank allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and my final

[16:49]recommendation here my dear brothers and sisters i know we should be

[16:53]happy on our birthdays but i will tell you from my personal

[16:56]experience yes on my birthday i do appreciate those who congratulate me

[17:01]those who may bring me a cake or a gift i'm happy

[17:06]for that and i ask allah to bless them but honestly personally

[17:10]on my birthday i feel sad and depressed because on my birthday

[17:16]i think to myself what have i done in the previous year

[17:20]have i worshipped allah the way he wants how many sins have

[17:25]i committed during this past year am i ready for the my

[17:29]birthday is a reminder i'm one step closer to death i'm one

[17:34]year closer to my grave i'm one year closer to the achara

[17:37]am i ready for that i know it's a day of celebration

[17:42]but honestly i have these feelings of sadness because i don't know

[17:45]if i prepared myself in the best way possible i could have

[17:48]done a better job in preparing for that so on the day

[17:52]of your birthday also remember that don't get distracted with partying non-stop

[17:58]don't get distracted with dunya on the day of your birth re-evaluate

[18:04]yourself am i on the right path is my lifestyle the best

[18:06]lifestyle can i improve my style my lifestyle because your birthday is

[18:10]a reminder subhanallah see how dunya twists everything the day of your

[18:16]birth is a reminder you're getting closer to death but what does

[18:20]society do no no don't think of that who thinks of death

[18:23]on their birthday seriously who thinks of death on their birthday if

[18:26]out there in society today you say to the people i'm thinking

[18:28]of death on my birthday they think you're crazy or they tell

[18:32]you you need to see a therapist you probably have chronic depression

[18:35]you have a mental illness to think of death on your birthday

[18:37]but honestly that's what a believer does on the day of his

[18:42]birth he asked himself allah brought me one year has gone am

[18:46]i ready or not ready that's how true believers reflect on the

[18:50]day of their birth and that makes you a better person and

[18:54]that truly allows you to be prepared look at these beautiful words

[19:00]from imam zayn al-abidin look at this beautiful dua these duas truly

[19:07]open our hearts they soften our souls read the as of albeit

[19:11]with contemplation listen to the words of the imam on the day

[19:16]of my birth this is what i reflect on this particular dua

[19:20]from the imam alayhi salaam the imam alayhi salaam [Music] m [Music]

[19:51]he says oh allah when i am gone from this dunya when

[19:57]i am cut off from this dunya when there is no trace

[19:58]of me oh allah you be the one to have mercy on

[20:04]me do you even know the name of your fifth grandfather do

[20:05]you even know what his legacy was do you know the name

[20:09]of your fifth grandmother this dunya will erase us the imam is

[20:15]saying oh allah when i'm long gone wamaha and people have all

[20:24]forgotten me no one even remembers me i've been long forgotten i

[20:27]want you to remember me allah i want you the one to

[20:34]take care of me i want you to have mercy on me

[20:38][Music] you my life is getting longer and longer my age is

[20:56]getting older and older my skin is becoming more wrinkled my bones

[21:04]are becoming more frail the dunya is changing me [Music] oh allah

[21:14]my agent my time is getting closer and closer one effie that's

[21:19]my days are numbered now every year my days are becoming more

[21:25]and more numbered ya allah then listen to what the imam says

[21:30]and i conclude with this then the imam alayhi salaam states [Music]

[21:39]my desire those moments when i sinned and i found pleasure and

[21:44]sinning they're gone those days are gone the pleasure is gone the

[21:48]joy of sinning is gone it's not going to help me anymore

[21:52]but what will stay wa but the sin has stayed as a

[21:57]burden on me and these nights my dear brothers and sisters we

[22:00]ask allah to forgive us and these nights we ask allah to

[22:06]purify our hearts to transform our souls so that we always stay

[22:09]focused yes it's a difficult journey but allah helps and in the

[22:15]month of ramadan we are the guests of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

[22:18]we ask allah subhanahu ta'ala to illuminate our hearts and minds with

[22:23]the wisdom of the holy quran and the wisdom of foreign

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التالي

Islam's Take on Birthday Celebrations | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini

Transcript

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التالي

Islam's Take on Birthday Celebrations | Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini

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