السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Saturday 24th September 2022 / 28 Safar 1444H.
Fireworks at Midnight
When we were at primary and secondary school in the 70s and 80s, we used to look forward to the 5th of November. Alas, they were the days of ignorance and making your own bonfire, or attending one, was just an annual event. The highlight of the evening would be the fireworks.
In those days, we had only bangers and sparklers; that’s all.
Over time we learnt that bonfire night was celebrated due to the failure of a certain Guy Fawkes to blow up the houses of Parliament. The host country we had arrived in let off their fireworks on the 5th of November every year. And that was it, till next year. The tradition still continues today.
However, as soon as us Muslims get hold of fireworks, there seems to be no limit on when, where and at what time we set them off. During the last few years, on many occasions, we start Ṣalāh with Jamā’ah at our local Masjid on Troy Street here in Blackburn and guess what? All we hear in the first Rak’at is the boom of fireworks going off outside, and it doesn’t stop there.
Many of us may have been distressed by fireworks going off at midnight. Where is our common sense? It might be a wedding or celebration at your house but what about your neighbourhood? The elderly and the sick may have just nodded off and you have woken them up with your fireworks.
Babies and pets are frightened and so many people get disturbed. Did that ever cross your mind? Did you ever think of those who have fled war zones, who may be reminded of getting bombed in their own homes? Should your happiness be a means of trouble and difficulty for a fellow human or living creature?
Why have we Muslims stooped so low? The host community never celebrates weddings with fireworks, although they invented the idea in the first place. Then why are we committing such acts which disturb the whole neighbourhood?
My message today is: do not become a means of inflicting distress on anyone, human or animal. Imagine someone who slept after a lot of difficulty, and now cannot go back to sleep again. They were woken up by your fireworks.
How many Du’ās (bad-Du’ā) is he going to make against you. Will that Du’ā not affect the marriage? The family? The ones who set up the fireworks? Then we go running to ‘Ulamā and Amils for treatment because something is not right in our family.
Stop this nonsense now. The amount of money you spend on fireworks, etc. can feed hundreds of people in developing countries who do not have the means to have one decent meal in a day. Let’s be thankful to The Almighty for all His Blessings upon us and not be extravagant and a means of trouble to others.
May The Almighty give us all the correct understanding, Āmeen.
جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
Request for Du’ās
وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala