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What is the response to those who believe that celebrating Mother's Day is not a religious innovation (bid‘ah), but rather falls under social customs, citing that innovation (bid‘ah) only pertains to inventing in religious matters, and that all worldly novelties are not innovations?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The reprehensible innovation (bid'ah) is religious innovation. Mother's Day is not a social occasion; rather, it is a religious festival (sharī'ah). The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, abolished the festivals of the pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah) and replaced them with Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Furthermore, 'Eid' is the name for a recurring general gathering on a specific day, which applies to Mother's Day. The argument that "necessities permit the forbidden" is incorrect in this context, because honoring one's mother does not depend on celebrating Mother's Day, which is religiously forbidden. Moreover, this celebration is derived from non-Muslims.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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