O Shaykh! The coming century includes the twenty-fourth of this blessed month, marking the arrival of what they call the third millennium.

The questioner : The disbeliever’s century includes the twenty-fourth of this blessed month, marking the arrival of what they call the third millennium. It is not hidden from your excellence that the Jews and Christians celebrate this great occasion of theirs. Nor is it hidden from you the amazement of people at the exaggeration spread by the disbelievers about what happens on that night. What is your guidance for the people who keep their eyes glued to television screens and satellite channels on such an occasion, especially since the disbelievers rely on their prophecies for this occasion?

The Shaykh : Yes. May Allah reward you! A fatwa has been issued on this matter by the Permanent Committee, spanning several pages. They have published it, and it is beneficial. My voice is joined to theirs. And I am extremely amazed at these disbelievers who claim intelligence. I say: intelligence—because they have no minds. Every disbeliever is not of sound mind, as the Mighty and Majestic said regarding the disbelievers: . But I say: they do not have intelligence. Does the completion of nine hundred and ninety-nine mean the entry into two thousand and one? The answer is: everyone says: No. So the millennium has not been completed. The two thousands are completed when two thousand is completed. How is nine hundred and ninety-nine completed? How can it be said that the third millennium has entered? And this, praise be to Allah, is the first thing that exposes these people and shows that they are foolish. This is one point. So this is an error from the historical perspective.
Second: from the doctrinal perspective, I am extremely amazed at a people who have enough intelligence to create these amazing inventions, yet they rely on illusions and imagination with no reality for their calculations of millennia. Perhaps they used to laugh at those who said such things in the past, and now they have said it themselves. Who told them that something would change after the arrival of the third millennium? Who said it? And it is not permissible for us Muslims to believe them in that, because this is from the knowledge of the unseen. And Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: . Yes, if there is something they have postponed to a specific term, as they claim about the computer, that if so much time passes, either or , it will malfunction, and now they are extremely serious in preparing for this. This is something they have estimated. They know its limit. And a man who came from America told me a strange story. He said: The computer now has only two digits, only two digits, and when it reaches and then starts with , the numbers are cancelled and it becomes two. He says: They are now confused. Does it mean that time goes back from to only? Meaning: they swallow a thousand years, or a third thousand comes. By Allah, if he said this to a small child, we would say: this is a madman. Time goes back a thousand years? That does not happen. But they, glory be to Allah! are resolute, with their hands on their hearts, saying: We fear now that time will go back to a thousand behind. Glory be to Allah! It is an amazing thing! But Allah the Mighty and Majestic intended to expose them and that these are a people of foolish dreams who have no minds. As for us Muslims, it is not permissible for us to follow them in this. Nor to believe what they say and fabricate, because we are a nation, a nation of truth, clear and distinct, with no illusions or fantasies.
Second: what they make a festival for a religious occasion, this is also forbidden for us to follow them in. Even Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) in his book *Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimmah* mentioned that the one who is pleased with their festivals, if he is safe from disbelief, is more severe than the one who is pleased with such and such of sins, if he is safe from disbelief. Yes, his statement is clear. If a person is pleased with the rituals of disbelief, it means he is pleased with disbelief, and this is dangerous for a person. And it is not permissible for us to exchange gifts for this, nor to congratulate them on this festival, nor to lower the prices of goods for this occasion, because I heard some shops saying: a discount from one hundred, making the price, for example, ninety. Why? Perhaps these merchants have stagnant goods and want to lower them, so they said: this is an occasion. But it is not permissible even in this case. Wait until the days pass, then lower whatever you want. But to lower it for this occasion, no.
And know, O my Muslim brother, that the disbeliever rejoices greatly if the Muslim agrees with him in any of his rituals. They rejoice even at our learning their language. And many of us are like chickens; they put poison in the grain and they eat it. Meaning: our learning their language, and even some people conversing in it, they rejoice in it greatly. If a non-Arab person learned your language now, would you not rejoice? I rejoice. I rejoice that he learns my language, and his language is not Arabic. Similarly, they rejoice. For this reason, it was part of the wisdom of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he would beat people if they spoke in the gibberish of non-Arabs. He would beat them. Why speak in a language other than Arabic? Do you want to destroy your identity, your Arabness, and your religion? Because the religion can never be truly understood except by understanding it according to the requirements of the Arabic language. For this reason, you find many scholars who are not originally Arab and did not master Arabic; you find that when they interpret the Qur'an or interpret the hadith, there are many errors on them.
In any case, this is our view regarding these celebrations: it is not permissible for a person to participate in them, nor to congratulate them on their festivals, nor to lighten the work, nor to lower the prices of goods for this occasion.
We ask Allah the Exalted to restore the glory, honor, and dignity of the Muslim nation. Indeed, He is capable of all things. Yes.