Valentine's Day: Historical Fact, Intellectual Misguidance, and Islamic Perspective
✍🏻*By the Pen of Muhammad Aadil Arariawi*
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Respected Readers, in every era, the identity of nations is determined by their beliefs, values, and cultural traditions. When a nation falls prey to intellectual slavery, it begins to adopt the customs and traditions of others without investigation, even if they conflict with its religious, moral, and social identity. In the present era, Muslims face a major intellectual challenge: many customs and superstitions presented in the name of Western civilization are being popularized in society under the guise of progress, love, and freedom. One of these customs is Valentine's Day, which has become a means of promoting indecency, obscenity, and moral decline in the name of love.
Unfortunately, today's Muslim youth are unaware of the true nature of this festival, its historical background, and its religious and social harms. This is why a non-Islamic and unnatural custom is being celebrated with pride and enthusiasm, even though Islam is a religion of modesty, purity, and dignified love.
There are many stories about Valentine's Day. One famous story is that in the third century AD, there was a Christian priest named Valentine who fell in love with a nun. Since marriage was forbidden for monks and nuns in Christianity, one day Valentine told his nun that he had been told in a dream that February 14 is a blessed day, and if any monk and nun have sexual intercourse on this day, it will not be considered a sin. The nun fully supported the monk in fulfilling the interpretation of this dream, and thus they did everything that Christianity forbade them from doing. Consequently, they met the fate that usually happens, i.e., they were killed. After that, people declared Valentine a martyr of love and started celebrating Valentine's Day on February 14 in his memory.
In the past, every year on February 14, sexually obsessed non-Muslim nations used to celebrate it to satisfy their illegitimate desires, regardless of the extent to which these stories are true. Without getting involved in this unnecessary debate, we will look at some of its social and Sharia-based evils. First of all, it is necessary to clarify the Islamic point of view regarding modesty.
A hadith in Bukhari Sharif, narrated by Hazrat Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), states that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "There are more than sixty branches of faith, and modesty is a great branch of faith." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 9)
Valentine's Day is an obscene festival in which nudity and Western culture prevail. There is open shamelessness and nakedness, while those who spread indecency are severely condemned in the Quran and Sunnah. Therefore, in Surah Noor, Allah Almighty says: "Indeed, those who like that immorality should spread [or be publicized] among those who have believed - for them is a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah knows and you do not know."
Valentine's Day is a non-Islamic festival, and acting upon it is a sin and a great crime. In a hadith in Sunan Abi Dawood, narrated by Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." (Sunan Abi Dawood, Hadith No. 4033)
This Valentine's Day gives rise to worldly love and madness in the heart, and promotes immorality, which results in adultery. It is an expression of non-Islamic, non-Sharia, unnatural, and immoral love, which is known by the ominous name of Valentine's Day. It is celebrated only after reaching the extreme of obscenity. There is no concept of this unsocial Valentine's Day in Islam. It is completely an animalistic culture, which is completely haram and illegitimate. Please, save yourself from it and save your sisters and daughters as well.
May Allah Almighty protect us all and our sisters and daughters from this ominous custom and grant us a correct understanding of the religion. Amen, then Amen, O Lord of the Worlds.