The Ruling on Holding Recurring Festivals and Celebrations

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Recently, festivals have become numerous. Even if they are not explicitly named as such, they follow the pattern of the people of religious innovation (bid'ah) in other countries, namely holding celebrations for an occasion, for any occasion whatsoever. Please provide a statement on this and a warning against it, so that we do not fall into what the people of innovation in neighboring countries have fallen into.

Answer:
This is clear and has been explained by the scholars of knowledge. Before that, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified this, stating that this Ummah has only two festivals: 'Id al-Fitr and 'Id al-Adha. Yes. There are no other festivals besides these two. Yes. Friday is called the weekly festival, because the people gather, they adorn themselves, they proceed to the mosques for the Friday prayer, and they leave their work to go to prayer if they intend to pray before Friday. Yes. Allah, then the weekly festival. As for anything other than this, is it not permissible to make festivals that recur annually or over several years? This is not permissible. A festival is what returns and is observed every year, or every ten years, or twenty years, or a hundred years. This is absolutely not permissible, and this is something that has crept into the Muslims from the customs of the disbelievers, so this is not permissible. Yes.