Dawah - For The Sake of Allaah
NEW YEAR is not from the festivals,of Muslims rather it's from the
festivals of the Disbelievers. It is not permissible for Muslims to
celebrate it in any way or form. Muslims just have two festivals :
Eid Ul Adha and Eil Ul Fitr and these are what Allah has
legislated for us and this is what we need to be contended with.
If they greet us on the occasion of their festivals, we should not
respond, because these are not our festivals, and because they
are not festivals which are acceptable to Allaah. These festivals
are innovations in their religions, and even those which may have
been prescribed formerly have been abrogated by the religion of
Islaam, with which Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) to the whole of mankind. Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"Whoever seeks a religion other than Islaam, it will never be
accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the
losers."
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]
It is haraam for a Muslim to accept invitations on such occasions,
because this is worse than congratulating them as it implies taking
part in their celebrations.
Similarly, Muslims are forbidden to imitate the kuffaar by having
parties on such occasions, or exchanging gifts, or giving out
sweets or food, or taking time off work, etc., because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever
imitates a people is one of them." Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah
said in his book Iqtidaa’ al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat
Ashaab al-Jaheem: "Imitating them in some of their festivals
implies that one is pleased with their false beliefs and practices,
and gives them the hope that they may have the opportunity to
humiliate and mislead the weak
End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen,
3/44.