Do you guys celebrate Noruz?

[HalloIsBack]

appreciate your analysis Wror Barakzai

satire?

[marwat]

satire?

No i mean that

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

There are two issues when discussing this topic:

1) Evidence basis
2) Hikmah/wisdom of discussing and applying it in these times of turmoil

I have not really seen much of either in this thread.

1) EVIDENCE BASIS

I, like many here, recall the hadith regarding the two festivals and the two consecutive days from jahiliyaah that were discussed by the Prophet as being superseded by the two separated eid. In the text of that hadith, there is no reference or wording that says people are out of the fold or that any who observe cultural traditions on those two prior days are out of the fold of Islam...

But I thought it might be wise to look into the Magians and the roots of Nawruz directly. In the lifetime of the Prophet there were documented interactions and diplomatic exchanged between Chosroe's declining empire and the Prophet's city state. We also know of Salman the Persian companion of the Prophet as another example of the intermingling/early interactions of the Muslims with Persia. A sad incident of course is the assassination of Omar by a disgruntled Persian, but it still serves as a historical example of the two people knowing something or another about eachother.

But what about the literature? What does it say specifically about Nawrooz. I talked to some folks, tried to find an exact commentary on the matter. I found two sources with similar wording, though one leaves things general and doesn't specify the Persian new year and is from Al-Bayhaqi in (Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/723-724).

The one that is exact in wording goes like this:


Ironically, though Persians elevated Ali as their "protagonist-hero" against Arab Imperialism and established an Imamate for that purpose, one of the Imam Bayhaqi traditions in the Book Sunan Al Kobra reads:



So what becomes apparent is that none of these chains terminate directly at the Prophet but its important to note that these companions were prominent, close to him, and zealous in their observation of Islam.

I personally would like to see the exact page and the Arabic from these books because I tend to want the highest quality direct evidence I can get. But assuming they are true we have to begin looking at things with an open mind.

2) WISDOM OF APPLICATION

What might be the reason, for instance, of maintaining a calendar based on the hijrat dates and periods and not permitting the ascendancy of another calender or set of holidays?

One of them might be divine decree itself as God says in the Quran:



I like this ayaat because it makes a point that even applies in the modern world. The dominant and ascendant calender is becoming the Gregorian calendar pretty much. All business gravitates and rotates around its dates and holidays. Not just in the Islamic world, but in Russia, China, Africa and other regions where separate cultures previously dominated and used their own calendars, globalization - business dominance by the West is becoming rooted in everything from the banking system to control of precious resources to cultural encroachment.

There is something to be said about maintaining the Islamic calendar and observing this Quran verse so as to have an economic and cultural system that can exist in tandem to vibrant competing cultures and not depend on the kharij systems. If there comes a point where the natives disagree, the problem is that the kharij can clamp down on the economic carotids and asphyxiate the brain, figuratively, of the dependent population.

3) HIKMAH/WISDOM CONTINUED

So is there a basis to what I just said above regarding cultural imperialism? I believe so. Years ago I read this paper by the wife of Zalmaay Khalilzaad after meeting her abroad:

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand...005/MR1716.pdf

She referred me to her own work.

She writes the following as a strategy and goal recomended by RAND:



Benard glosses over the massive role played by Colonialism and Interventionalists in creating this mess and tries to make it seem as if these instigators that all the surveys have shown is at the forefront in the mind of radicals and whiskey drinkers alike can just be ignored in her strategic (lack of?) finesse?

But the point is clear from her end - she understands that conglomerate empires/regions existed in the Muslim world that still have regional links that supersede borders drawn in the 1900s. If these borders and regional suzerainties are threated.... well then her and Zalmaay might be out of jobs!

However, this cause celebre of Persian nationalists and others across the globe pretty much cedes ground to the strategy of Miss Benard - and that cannot be brushed under the rug with such a document in existance.

4) HIKMAH CONTINUED CONTINUED

In times of trouble, turmoil and stress it is far more conducive to success to focus on big picture issues.

There is a hadith that goes like this



or




These hadith shows that a wise leader deals with things not just in a literal way but also in a way that doesnt consternate or antagonize the audience he wants to bring into the light.

The point is that when addressing these issues, tis best not to play into Mrs. Benard and her husband's hands by chasing details and debates that antagonizes or alienates a large segment of society to the point of feeling that Muslims have to destroy other Muslims over such matters when large problems exist in society as a whole.

People have to bribe the right people to accomplish basic daily activities of living; people have to kow tow to killers set up as strongmen on their heads; people have to live through endemic corruption...

Attachment to vestigial ceremonies, in this time of tribulations and trials, are probably best left alone or addressed with an evidence based discussion that permits independent human beings to weigh evidences and make decisions for themselves without hurling accusations of being either jahil or wahhabist.

(right click...save)


This is a book published by Hanafi's in Afghanistan discussing Nawroz from an Islamic perspective.

As you can see, it is not a wahhabi/salafi publication, neither is the publisher in any way "funded" or supported by Saudi's.

I will post the evidence used to derive rulings and statements of jurists seperately in another post.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

[MENTION=1772]BarakzaiAbdali[/MENTION]

Hadith

List of different books mentioning this hadith and it's status of authenticity

Sanad Table

Sanad tree

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

[MENTION=1772]BarakzaiAbdali[/MENTION]

athar of ibn 3umar

List of different books mentioning this athar and it's status of authenticity


Sanad Table


Sanad tree


The athar of ibn 3umar is used as evidence by jurists to declare those celebrating nawroz as kaafirs because it has two important aspects:

1 - it is not a hadith, meaning it is not a speech by Prophet Muhammed sal allahu alayhi wasalam, but rather something told by a Sahabi. However, this athar mentions something which pertains aspects of al Ghaib. Which means that it discusses matters of the unseen. Non of the Sahaba received revelation about al ghaib like the Prophet sal allahu alayhi wasalam, so non of them makes any statement about al ghaib unless it is something they have learned from the Prophet sal allahu alayhi wasalam. Which is why this athar is weighed as a source of ruling just like Qur'an & Hadith.

2 - this athar mentions that those celebrating nawroz will be raised with the polytheists (zoroastrians) on the day of judgement. It is known by necessity in Islam that all people are raised with their own kind on day of judgement. Muslims are raised with Muslims, Christians are raised with Christians and Zoroastrians are raised with Zoroastrians. Therefore, those who celebrate nawroz are outside the fold of Islam, because they are raised on the day of judgement with zoroastrians.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

The book I posted earlier discusses an important issue prior to dealing with the prohibition of nawroz. The issue is immitation of disblievers. Celebrating, honoring or revering anything which is specific to disbelievers, even if its not their religious cerimony is considered an act of kufr because it nullifies the testimony of faith.

One cannot have reverence for anything specific to disbelievers and still have full faith in Allah.

Therefore, celebrating thanksgiving, 4 of july, Kings day in Holland, Christmas, Carnival and all other sorts of festivals and traditions of the disbelievers fall under the same ruling.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

[MENTION=1772]BarakzaiAbdali[/MENTION],

I think it would be beneficial if you consult anyone who has a degree in Hadith sciences to explain to you why Hadith Marfu' (like the ibn 3umar athar) is still considered as something coming from the Prophet sal allahu alyhi wasalam. You can also ask how valuable it is for scholars who derive rulings out of it.

I haven't studied sciences of hadith myself, so I am not able to explain these matters. However, all you need to know about it, can be found in the links I have posted.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

[MENTION=1772]BarakzaiAbdali[/MENTION]

Hadith

List of different books mentioning this hadith and it's status of authenticity

Sanad Table

Sanad tree

Shamlawar, I am literate in Arabic script but not in Arabi itself. I can make out some of it and went to the meat of the hadith and assume that its pretty close to this one?

The Hadeeth narrated under the authority of Anas Bin Malik (Radia Allahu Anh) who said, “The Prophet (Sallah Allah Alayhi Wasalam) came to Medina with two days they played in.
The Prophet (Sallah Allahu Alayhi Wasalam) said, ‘What are these two days?’ They said, ‘These are two days we used to play in, in our Jahiliyah.’ The Prophet (Sallah Allahu Alayhi Wasalam) said, ‘Allah has replaced them with two better days: Eid Al Adhaa and Eid Al [34]Fitr’.

Is this correct? That is, this is the central hadith that the argument revolves around?

[BarakzaiAbdali]

[MENTION=1772]BarakzaiAbdali[/MENTION]

athar of ibn 3umar

List of different books mentioning this athar and it's status of authenticity


Sanad Table


Sanad tree


The athar of ibn 3umar is used as evidence by jurists to declare those celebrating nawroz as kaafirs because it has two important aspects:

1 - it is not a hadith, meaning it is not a speech by Prophet Muhammed sal allahu alayhi wasalam, but rather something told by a Sahabi. However, this athar mentions something which pertains aspects of al Ghaib. Which means that it discusses matters of the unseen. Non of the Sahaba received revelation about al ghaib like the Prophet sal allahu alayhi wasalam, so non of them makes any statement about al ghaib unless it is something they have learned from the Prophet sal allahu alayhi wasalam. Which is why this athar is weighed as a source of ruling just like Qur'an & Hadith.

2 - this athar mentions that those celebrating nawroz will be raised with the polytheists (zoroastrians) on the day of judgement. It is known by necessity in Islam that all people are raised with their own kind on day of judgement. Muslims are raised with Muslims, Christians are raised with Christians and Zoroastrians are raised with Zoroastrians. Therefore, those who celebrate nawroz are outside the fold of Islam, because they are raised on the day of judgement with zoroastrians.

Can you translate this for us:

رقم الحديث: 38
(حديث مرفوع) أَخْبَرَنَا الشَّيْخُ أَبُو الْحُسَيْنِ الطُّيُورِيُّ ، قِرَاءَةً عَلَيْهِ ، أَنَا أَبُو الْفَرَجِ الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ الطَّنَاجِيرِيُّ ، أَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ شَاذَانَ ، نا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ سَعِيدِ بْنِ فَرْضَخٍ ، نا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَوْفٍ ، نا الْفِرْيَابِيُّ ، نا سُفْيَانُ ، عَنْ عَوْفٍ ، عَنِ الْوَلِيدِ ، أَوْ أَبِي الْوَلِيدِ ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، قَالَ : " مَنْ تَنَافَى أَرْضَ الأَعَاجِمِ فَصَنَعَ نَيْرُوزَهُمْ وَمَهْرِجَانِهِمْ حُشِرَ مَعَهُمْ " .

The closest one I can find to it that seems to say what it does is:
Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a jayyid isnaad from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr that he said: “Whoever settles in the land of the non-Arabs and celebrates their new year and festival and imitates them until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of Resurrection.” (Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/723-724)

The jurist Bayhaqi called it jayyid right? Which is similar to hasan but not sahih?

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Shamlawar, I am literate in Arabic script but not in Arabi itself. I can make out some of it and went to the meat of the hadith and assume that its pretty close to this one?

The Hadeeth narrated under the authority of Anas Bin Malik (Radia Allahu Anh) who said, “The Prophet (Sallah Allah Alayhi Wasalam) came to Medina with two days they played in.
The Prophet (Sallah Allahu Alayhi Wasalam) said, ‘What are these two days?’ They said, ‘These are two days we used to play in, in our Jahiliyah.’ The Prophet (Sallah Allahu Alayhi Wasalam) said, ‘Allah has replaced them with two better days: Eid Al Adhaa and Eid Al [34]Fitr’.

Is this correct? That is, this is the central hadith that the argument revolves around?

Yes, that's the hadith.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Can you translate this for us:

رقم الحديث: 38
(حديث مرفوع) أَخْبَرَنَا الشَّيْخُ أَبُو الْحُسَيْنِ الطُّيُورِيُّ ، قِرَاءَةً عَلَيْهِ ، أَنَا أَبُو الْفَرَجِ الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ الطَّنَاجِيرِيُّ ، أَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ شَاذَانَ ، نا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ سَعِيدِ بْنِ فَرْضَخٍ ، نا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَوْفٍ ، نا الْفِرْيَابِيُّ ، نا سُفْيَانُ ، عَنْ عَوْفٍ ، عَنِ الْوَلِيدِ ، أَوْ أَبِي الْوَلِيدِ ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، قَالَ : " مَنْ تَنَافَى أَرْضَ الأَعَاجِمِ فَصَنَعَ نَيْرُوزَهُمْ وَمَهْرِجَانِهِمْ حُشِرَ مَعَهُمْ " .

The closest one I can find to it that seems to say what it does is:
Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a jayyid isnaad from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr that he said: “Whoever settles in the land of the non-Arabs and celebrates their new year and festival and imitates them until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of Resurrection.” (Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/723-724)

The jurist Bayhaqi called it jayyid right? Which is similar to hasan but not sahih?

That's the hadith marfu', and it is sahih, not just according to one hadith scholar, but many arrived to the same conclusion. There is no doubts about the authenticity of this hadith.

The table along with this narration shows how almost nobody doubted this chain or its authenticity.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

The book I posted earlier discusses an important issue prior to dealing with the prohibition of nawroz. The issue is immitation of disblievers. Celebrating, honoring or revering anything which is specific to disbelievers, even if its not their religious cerimony is considered an act of kufr because it nullifies the testimony of faith.

One cannot have reverence for anything specific to disbelievers and still have full faith in Allah.

Therefore, celebrating thanksgiving, 4 of july, Kings day in Holland, Christmas, Carnival and all other sorts of festivals and traditions of the disbelievers fall under the same ruling.

Well so lets discuss - if me and you were two attorneys or two commoners and we wanted to take the case to some jurists that based rulings off the classical literature.

Would you agree that there are two or three questions here instead of one?

Discussing this as laymen interested in a question:
The current manner of discussion centers around a question that would produce fitnah and not encourage a large segment of the population to do "the right thing", which is a simple question: "Is celebrating Neyrouz halaal, haraam, makrouh, or whatever else?" And what are the consequences of celebrating it, i.e. penal law then would come after if it were declared illegal.

But instead I think the more proper questions for jurists would be:

1) If you have a mass population that celebrates a vestigial celebration that detracts from their belief and proper practice, instead of making the mistake of going along the way of the Christians and simply incorporating a pagan ritual and somehow justifying it (which dilutes the spirit of the law) - how does one address dealing with this?

One way is to do what is said above and just go buck wild and create a stark boundary and potentially give fodder to separatists and implement harsh punishment. And there would potentially be harsh punishments if some were to equate its continued observance with apostasy right?

2) If there is a vistigeal celebration that is NOT linked to a religious holiday, but, if the Pashtuns, as a Muslim people for hundreds of years now, partake in something that the early Muslims in Uthman's time and Ali's time did not forcibly remove from them - and its significance was something along more of a cultural thing.... and now Pashtuns are renowned for being a Muslim people - could the argument be made that "this is not imitating a kuffar people?"

For instance, if it could be proven with reasonable doubt in tow that this was a spring holiday of some sort that Pashtun tribes have been doing for some time, and we cannot directly link it to a pagan concept, does it ipso facto become something that must at all costs be addressed as vistigeal pagan even if the consequences are to cause unnecessary division?

or is the better part of valor to leave it to scholarly discussion once the larger societal issues/healthcare/city planning/ etc have been worked out?

And of course the third question that must be asked by all invested parties, is the historicity of their own arguments:

Encyclopedia Iranica notes one approach, similar to the approach the US is taking to diminish smoking (heavy taxation which sparked the Eric Garner death in NYC) as a way that was utilized to deal with it:

History up to the Safavid period. The Arabs captured the capital of the Sasanian Empire on a Nowruz day, taking the celebrating inhabitants by surprise (Yaʿqubi, I, p. 198). Henceforth, the early Arab governors forcefully levied heavy Nowruz and Mehragān taxes on the conquered people (Jahšiāri, pp. 15, 24; Ṣuli, p. 219). The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs retained this onerous burden of taxation on their conquered subjects, but, at the same time, they also celebrated both Nowruz and Mehragān with considerable relish and pomp, thereby helping to keep alive Nowruz and its many traditions (Masʿudi, Moruj VII, p. 277; Tanuḵi, pp. 145-46; Ahsan, pp. 287-88).

But also, its interesting to note that the Buyid Kings were the ones to really ramp up the Persian nationalist character and retintroduce Nawruz with vigor - including the introduction of Hajji Pirooz - which some of us have seen on travels through Iran during this time period:

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haji-firuz

That is, Hajji Pirooz did not exist in the original celebration and the Persiofascist nationalists even went so far as to canonize and force its celebration throughout various periods post Safavid era, even as recently as the Pehlavi dynasty:

Reza Shah’s heir, Mohamad Reza Pahlavi, continued his father’s emphasis on Iranian nationalism and the resultant nationalization and secularization of the Zoroastrian past and religion. He encouraged the performance of Nowruz and the winter-solstice celebration of Mehragan as national holidays. Prominent Zoroastrians, Mobed Rostam Shahzadi and Ardeshir Mobed, were invited to the palace for Zoroastrian festivals.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amherst.edu%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2Fmedia%2FModern%252520Zoroastrian%252520Identity%252520btw%252520cyrus%252520and%252520zr.doc&ei=jUliVfzqH4mgyQTgi4HABA&usg=AFQjCNEfk3VRvNM1SipRsGOmWAi_eA1fag

^ The above is an excellent essay on the rise of Persian nationalism and the role of the supposedly "oppressed" zoroastrian minority in the British and Shah eras in an attempt to oppose/counter Islam.

In our own history, the more isolated the tribe, the less likely they celebrate nawruz. There is no mention of it in Pashto poetry as far as I have read, and the closest historical comparator is Shino Bozano mentioned by the Anglo historians. None of the Persian chroniclers mention the Pashtuns of Kandahar adhering to the Iranian style celebrations either...

Our own personal experience is that some family members who had contact with kabul celebrated it, but the villagers, not so.

This translated into the Afghan refugee experience as well. In the US, one of the largest tribal groups to come from Afghanistan are Wardaks. One of the cities that they have congregated in heavily here is Seattle. In the 1980s and 90s they did NOT celebrate Nawruz if they were primarily Pashto speaking and rural oriented. They viewed it as a parsibaan cultural thing. As the refugee community became more intermixed, its started to become more common.

But I mention such things because generally, a third question a jurist might be asked is:

3) There is the concept of apostasy and then of course there is the concept of disobedience and still viewing ones self as a Muslim. Can one really be called "not believing" and be labeled as seditionist and anti Islamic if these above complexities are taken into account?

I would imagine that once all the evidence is weighed, the idea would be to have an informed historical discussion - something that could even be done on the national stage - bringing together historical sources from all sorts of places to discuss these various festivals:

1) Shino Bozano
2) Nawruz
3) Nawaay Kaal
4) Sparlaay Festival

and discern their historicity. If it is determined that the momentum gained for them is a Cheryl Benard style duplicitious approach to separate Afghans from their faith, then the public should be informed about it and then the public should decide what comes next.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

That's the hadith marfu', and it is sahih, not just according to one hadith scholar, but many arrived to the same conclusion. There is no doubts about the authenticity of this hadith.

The table along with this narration shows how almost nobody doubted this chain or its authenticity.

Whats interesting about the nationalist discussion of the matter is that the attempt to set it up as a loggerhead between Arabism and Localism or Arab Imperialism is that if we wanted to nitpick, then anyone familiar with Pashto poetry knows that Pashtuns actually had their own traditional calendar and months that has been long forgotten.

http://www.pashtunforums.com/showthread.php?t=44822

In this thread, Badlun actually, to his credit, discusses some Pashto poetry I was reading from Khushal Khan Baba where he uses the term for the month: drema Khor. This is the terminology used locally for the Hijri Islamic Calendar.

So in essence if the supposed father of Pashto nationalism did not praise Nawruz and himself used the Hijri Calendar and in his poetry referred to its months in his own colloquial terms...

Imposing, forcibly, Persianism on Pashtuns is going against the Father of Literary Pashto himself then, looooool and sets up a loggerhead between Pan Persianism and Pashto and Pashtun identity.

If the retort is that we are closer to Persians etc etc etc etc and that there are inextricable links - that is an ideological, emotional, and selective argument based on derived and contrived views.

Once again, the only historical terminologies to time and references to Calendars in the Pashto region and associated celebrations are to Shino Bozano by the Brits and The Khushal Khan Poetry, the former which has much more historical standing and goes father back.

At the end of the of the day, my personal preference is the following approach:

1) Not to celebrate it myself, since I view it as a Persian Nationalist affront and because of the reasons I mentioned in my original post regarding RAND/the Quran ayaah where Al-Lah declares the 12 months as well as this discussion.

2) But to have a quality and historical discussion on the matter with people as we are doing now

3) have the rest come to their own conclusions and to focus on larger matters in the near present.

Pashtun is like a stallion or a Lion.... if you try to break him he kicks or takes a bite of flesh... Sikander-e- Azaam had a nice approach when dealing with Bucephalus, his famous war horse/stallion ---> He walked alongside him and realized Bucephalus was afraid of his shadow and slowly mounted him so that Bucephalus could not see his shadow all the while. Then Bucephalus bonded with him and took across the world, even charging Porus's elephant and dying in battle for Sikander. Sikander mourned him and built a city over him (Hydaspes)

In this same way - best to have a historical, quasi religious, informed discussion and then to punt the decision back to the Afghan/Pashtun to decide what is best - I find they often make the right decision in these instances.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Well so lets discuss - if me and you were two attorneys or two commoners and we wanted to take the case to some jurists that based rulings off the classical literature.

Would you agree that there are two or three questions here instead of one?

Discussing this as laymen interested in a question:
The current manner of discussion centers around a question that would produce fitnah and not encourage a large segment of the population to do "the right thing", which is a simple question: "Is celebrating Neyrouz halaal, haraam, makrouh, or whatever else?" And what are the consequences of celebrating it, i.e. penal law then would come after if it were declared illegal.

But instead I think the more proper questions for jurists would be:

1) If you have a mass population that celebrates a vestigial celebration that detracts from their belief and proper practice, instead of making the mistake of going along the way of the Christians and simply incorporating a pagan ritual and somehow justifying it (which dilutes the spirit of the law) - how does one address dealing with this?

One way is to do what is said above and just go buck wild and create a stark boundary and potentially give fodder to separatists and implement harsh punishment. And there would potentially be harsh punishments if some were to equate its continued observance with apostasy right?

2) If there is a vistigeal celebration that is NOT linked to a religious holiday, but, if the Pashtuns, as a Muslim people for hundreds of years now, partake in something that the early Muslims in Uthman's time and Ali's time did not forcibly remove from them - and its significance was something along more of a cultural thing.... and now Pashtuns are renowned for being a Muslim people - could the argument be made that "this is not imitating a kuffar people?"

For instance, if it could be proven with reasonable doubt in tow that this was a spring holiday of some sort that Pashtun tribes have been doing for some time, and we cannot directly link it to a pagan concept, does it ipso facto become something that must at all costs be addressed as vistigeal pagan even if the consequences are to cause unnecessary division?

or is the better part of valor to leave it to scholarly discussion once the larger societal issues/healthcare/city planning/ etc have been worked out?

And of course the third question that must be asked by all invested parties, is the historicity of their own arguments:

Encyclopedia Iranica notes one approach, similar to the approach the US is taking to diminish smoking (heavy taxation which sparked the Eric Garner death in NYC) as a way that was utilized to deal with it:



But also, its interesting to note that the Buyid Kings were the ones to really ramp up the Persian nationalist character and retintroduce Nawruz with vigor - including the introduction of Hajji Pirooz - which some of us have seen on travels through Iran during this time period:

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haji-firuz

That is, Hajji Pirooz did not exist in the original celebration and the Persiofascist nationalists even went so far as to canonize and force its celebration throughout various periods post Safavid era, even as recently as the Pehlavi dynasty:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amherst.edu%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2Fmedia%2FModern%252520Zoroastrian%252520Identity%252520btw%252520cyrus%252520and%252520zr.doc&ei=jUliVfzqH4mgyQTgi4HABA&usg=AFQjCNEfk3VRvNM1SipRsGOmWAi_eA1fag

^ The above is an excellent essay on the rise of Persian nationalism and the role of the supposedly "oppressed" zoroastrian minority in the British and Shah eras in an attempt to oppose/counter Islam.

In our own history, the more isolated the tribe, the less likely they celebrate nawruz. There is no mention of it in Pashto poetry as far as I have read, and the closest historical comparator is Shino Bozano mentioned by the Anglo historians. None of the Persian chroniclers mention the Pashtuns of Kandahar adhering to the Iranian style celebrations either...

Our own personal experience is that some family members who had contact with kabul celebrated it, but the villagers, not so.

This translated into the Afghan refugee experience as well. In the US, one of the largest tribal groups to come from Afghanistan are Wardaks. One of the cities that they have congregated in heavily here is Seattle. In the 1980s and 90s they did NOT celebrate Nawruz if they were primarily Pashto speaking and rural oriented. They viewed it as a parsibaan cultural thing. As the refugee community became more intermixed, its started to become more common.

But I mention such things because generally, a third question a jurist might be asked is:

3) There is the concept of apostasy and then of course there is the concept of disobedience and still viewing ones self as a Muslim. Can one really be called "not believing" and be labeled as seditionist and anti Islamic if these above complexities are taken into account?

I would imagine that once all the evidence is weighed, the idea would be to have an informed historical discussion - something that could even be done on the national stage - bringing together historical sources from all sorts of places to discuss these various festivals:

1) Shino Bozano
2) Nawruz
3) Nawaay Kaal
4) Sparlaay Festival

and discern their historicity. If it is determined that the momentum gained for them is a Cheryl Benard style duplicitious approach to separate Afghans from their faith, then the public should be informed about it and then the public should decide what comes next.

Regarding your first question, the answer is simple. Qur’an teaches us that the original religion, the religion of Adam alayhi salam was monotheism. Therefore, Qur’an is inviting people to return back to the original religion of humanity.

The worship of false deities started during the times of Noah alayhi salam. Ever since Prophets and Messengers have been sent to mankind to rectify them and guide them back to monotheism.

After every new revelation, every new prophet or messenger, people eventually left the path of guidance.

What we have inherited from Prophet Muhammed sal allahu alayhi wasalam as an Ummah is to hold on to Qur’an and his Sunnah and invite people to it the way he did and the way his predecessors have done.

We give people the verses of Qur’an and we give them the teachings of the final Prophet. It is their prerogative, whether they want to accept it or not. If they reject it, then we have done our job. Our obligation is merely to convey the message in the appropriate manner. If they accept it, then they have made the right decision for themselves. Either way, you can’t do anything other than to convey the message.

To answer your second question, I must address a misconception which might be partially created by me. Anything which is specific to religion AND traditions of non-Muslims falls under this ruling. It doesn’t have to be a religious festival. I use to believe that it is just the religious festivals. But I have recently found out I was wrong. A friend of mine who is an advanced student of Islamic studies explained to me how this is often misunderstood.

Imitating the non-Muslims is doing anything which is specific to their way of life and their customs and traditions, religious or not. So let’s assume Nawroz is not a religious festival of Zoroastrians, it still doesn’t mean it’s okay to celebrate it.

With regards to seasonal celebration, I want to add something. As you may know, most pagan traditions ascribe divinity to seasons and other natural elements. Therefore, religion and their perception of nature are often blurred into one another. It is very difficult to draw the line between what is purely religious and what is not religious.

If you pay attention to the hadith marfu’ by ibn 3umar, you will notice that it mentions going to the land of disbelievers. Muslims occupied most of Arabia when the Prophet sal allahu alayhi wasalam was alive. During the conquest of Arabia and the spread of Islam, most of the customs and traditions of Arabs were still intact. Back then, the Arabian peninsula was influenced by Zoroastrian pagan culture. Arabs adopted Persian culture because Persians were the most powerful and dominant people in their region. In fact, if you study the Qur’an, you will find many Persian words. The Arabic language in its most pure form contains Hebrew and Persian words.

Similar things happen currently as we speak. Americanization of Western Europe since the end of WWII is visible in all spheres of life. The Dutch have Sinterklaas on 5th of december, which is their traditon. However, the broadcasting of Coca Cola ads, Hollywood movies and American tv-shows, now they have something called “Kersman” who appears during Chrismas and New Year’s eve. Likewise, there are hundreds of other American influences on Western European culture.

The two texts discussed here are used by jurists to derive rulings not just for nawroz, but for various other phenomena. However, what is important to note, is that Nawroz was practiced on the Arabian peninsula. It’s not something Muslims came across when they entered Persia.

As you have seen, the hadith bans it and prohibits people from celebrating it. Later on, when Muslims moved to Persia proper, they came across people who practiced all sorts of stuff which are considered haram. Islam was a new religion in Persia/ Khurasan. Most new Muslims didn’t know everything about Islam just like some new Muslims in Madeena didn’t know they shouldn’t celebrate nawroz until they were told so.

Besides, the spread of Islam didn’t exactly happen smoothly in Persia/Khurasan. During the Umayyad reign, the focus was on military and political conquest, not religious propagation. Therefore, many Zoroastrians continued practicing their religion and remained non-Muslims.

This is where the role of Hanafi school of law comes into play. You see, the school with the most exhaustive amount of literature on bid’ah and all sorts of prohibited practices is the hanafi school. The reason for this is that Hanafi school was centered initially in Iraq, but later spread to the east all the way to Bangladesh. Indian peninsula, Persia & Khurasan were core areas of polytheists and sadly, most of the misguidance and innovation also originated from these regions. Therefore, the scholars in these regions have always combatted malicious social and religious movements. They have written extensively about customs specific to Hindu’s, Zoroastrians, Buddhists and later on, Sufis, grave worshippers, Shiites and eventually Qadyanis.

If we look back at our history, we can’t avoid having some sort of bias. Human beings are unable to imagine something they have never seen. We can’t imagine our people not practicing nawroz and all other sorts of things considered acts of kufr in Islam. The reason why we can’t easily accept this is because as you said, Pashtuns are known to be Muslims. This image and status negatively affects our judgement. Most Pashtuns haven’t always practiced Islam in its most perfect and appropriate fashion. Similarly, Persians, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen and other ethnicities have their own ups and downs in matters of faith.

What we do have is 1400 year old scholarly tradition. A tradition which answers many questions about our history. If we look at a specific jurist and we look at the fatwa’s he has issued, we can understand what kind of problems he was facing during his era. Based on his fatwa’s we can get a pretty good image of what people use to do during his life time. So if we take Mullah Ali Qari al Hanafi, ( who btw is one of my personal favorite classic jurists) we will find that he issued fatwa’s about Nawroz and many other customs we consider “normal” today. Mullah Ali Qari died 400 years ago and he was from Herat, core area in “Persia”. He was very explicit in declaring people as apostates for celebrating nawroz.

Likewise, most Hadith scholars were also from greater Persia/ Khurasan. They recorded ahadith discussing matters specific to our region in their books. Imam Bayhaqi and Abu Dawud ( mentioned earlier in our discussion) were both from Persia/Khurasan.

So you see, the knowledge about these matters were present at all times in our region. It’s not like Islam arrived, Muslims overlooked nowroz and then suddenly in 21th century Wahhabis came and started telling people they are kaafirs because they celebrate nawroz.

During the days of Prophet Muhammed sal allahu alayhi wasalam, after the conquest of Mecca, some Muslims fornicated, they stole, and they committed all other sorts of crimes. After his death, entire tribes left the fold of Islam and they were fought by Abu Bakr Siddiq radiallahu anhu.

The spread of Islam is no guarantee to banish all sorts of sins and misguidance. People continue to choose path of misguidance.

To answer your third question, a praying, fasting, zakat paying and hajj attending person can still be a kaafir. The Arab tribes who left the fold of Islam after the death of Prophet Muhammed sal allahu alayhi wasalam did not say we are no longer Muslims. They said we accept Islam, we pray, we fast and we attend Hajj but we don’t want to pay zakat to Abu Bakr Siddiq. They didn’t even deny the obligation of paying zakat. Yet, they were still considered as apostates and Abu Bakr Siddiq fought them until they submitted and repeated their testimony of faith in order to become Muslims again.

[khushal]

In our own history, the more isolated the tribe, the less likely they celebrate nawruz. There is no mention of it in Pashto poetry as far as I have read, and the closest historical comparator is Shino Bozano mentioned by the Anglo historians. None of the Persian chroniclers mention the Pashtuns of Kandahar adhering to the Iranian style celebrations either...

Our own personal experience is that some family members who had contact with kabul celebrated it, but the villagers, not so.

This translated into the Afghan refugee experience as well. In the US, one of the largest tribal groups to come from Afghanistan are Wardaks. One of the cities that they have congregated in heavily here is Seattle. In the 1980s and 90s they did NOT celebrate Nawruz if they were primarily Pashto speaking and rural oriented. They viewed it as a parsibaan cultural thing. As the refugee community became more intermixed, its started to become more common.

My grandfather who was born and lived all his life in Jaji would tell us stories of how they celebrated but they called it nawa'ye kal parsarlai and not nowraz. People in the village basically got together and ate in the village mosque, prayed and started planning for the planting season and since water is scarce, it would be a time to talk about how the water would be divided by the people. When my parents moved to Kabul, they did not celebrate it since they did not plant anything and water rights did not exist and not needed to be discussed. But other people that had moved to Kabul were celebrating it as the Kabulis did with the seven fruit thing. I dont believe that in our tribe it is a persian influence but a time to get together to basically discuss water rights and ofcourse when people in this region get together, food and prayer is always involved.

The HOW part of the celebration should be debated and not the celebration of Spring itself.