Assalamu Alaikum,
October 31 is Halloween. Most of the children will be ticker treating and collecting candies. I have seen that our Imams and some of the parents do not like their children to be part of such festivities and I agree with them. But, we must provide some tangible alternatives to our children as well. Remember, we have chosen to be here in non-Muslim society. No one forced us to become Canadian or American or European or Australian. Unfortunately, most of the Muslim parents and the Muslim children in North America or Europe or Australia do not have sufficient knowledge to understand why shouldn’t we take part in Halloween. On the other side when a child sees that in his/her school and in his/her neighborhood all the children are having fun and getting lots of candies what we have as Muslim parents, to offer to our kids an alternative which can provide them some tangible incentives for not taking part in Halloween. With all due respect, “TABLEEGH” will not work on all the children. It “may” work on adults. Children need candies and have fun with their friends. We must be rational and realistic in our approach. We are not living in a Muslim country. We need to go some extra miles in order to make sure that our children should not feel isolated from the rest of the society and at the same time they can be raised as good Muslims. Here is what we are planning to do in Calgary.
- We call October 31 as SALEHEEN instead of Halloween
- All the children will gather at a place by 5:15 PM
- All the children will wear the dresses of their country of origin or any normal dress ( No face painting, no ghost like costumes etc..)
- We will offer our Maghrib Prayer
- We will visit Muslim families houses and saying “Salam Alaikum” instead of ticker treat.
- It is expected that the children will receive candies from the visit.
- We will come back to our gathering place where few stories about our “Salaf” called SALEHEEN will be shared with the children. The theme of stories is to give positive image of Allah’s creation including “JINN”, “ANGELS” and SALEHEEN as human beings.
- We will pray Isha. After that parents will pickup their children at about 7:30 PM
Please give us your feedback and if you like the idea please do it in your area. Volunteers are welcome.
Thanks
Syed Soharwardy
(403)-208-7148
