Ruling on celebrating World Hijab Day
Question

                World Hijab Day is celebrated on 1 February every year. What do the scholars say about that? What is your view concerning this issue? Is this regarded as coming under the heading of innovation (bid ‘ah)?
Praise be to Allah.
	World Hijab Day is an idea promoted by a Muslim woman living 
	in the USA called Nazma Khan. She is a Muslim woman of Bengali origin who 
	migrated to the US when she was eleven years old, and she faced all kinds of 
	harrassment and pressure because of her hijab, which made her think of a way 
	to put a stop to this discrimination against the hijab. The way she came up 
	with was to call women of all countries, religions and races to put on the 
	hijab for at least one day, namely the first day of February, which is known 
	as World Hijab Day. 

	Hijab is a well-established obligation that Allah, may He be 
	glorified, has prescribed for believing women. It is a symbol of chastity 
	and a sign of dignity and piety. Muslim scholars, preachers and individuals 
	must do their utmost to call people to it and encourage it, but despite that 
	the methods used to achieve this aim must be methods that are prescribed in 
	Islam, because the means of pursuing praiseworthy goals should be in 
	accordance with Islamic teaching. As for designating a particular day in the 
	year, that is repeated every year and is called World Hijab Day, that is not 
	permissible, for the following reasons: 

	Firstly: 

	This involves imitating the traditions of the disbelievers 
	who are enemies to Allah, may He be glorified, and are enemies to His 
	Messengers. It is they who introduced such ideas, and allocated for every 
	issue that they want to promote and disseminate an occasion to celebrate it, 
	that is repeated every year, such as the International Day of the Child, the 
	International Day Against Violence Against Women, International Cancer Day, 
	the International Day for People with Special Needs, Mother’s Day, national 
	festivals (such as Independence Day and the like), and many other examples 
	of such innovations and evil practices for which Allah has not sent down any 
	authority. 

	Rather these things are more akin to reprehensible 
	innovations, because allocating a particular day that is repeated every 
	year, on which people gather to do certain things makes this day a kind of 
	“eid” or festival, because the root meaning of the word eid refers to 
	something that returns and is repeated. 

	The scholars of the Standing Committee said, in Fataawa 
	al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah – vol. 1 (3/88): Eid is a word that refers to 
	something that is repeated, of gatherings in a customary manner, either once 
	a year, once a month, or once a week, and the like. So the word eid refers 
	to several things, such as a special day that is repeated, such as the day 
	of Eid al-Fitr or the day of Jumu‘ah (Friday); the gatherings held on those 
	days; or the activities that are done on those days, both acts of worship 
	and customs and traditions. End quote. 

	See also the answer to question no 10070. 

	The prescription of eids or festivals can only come from 
	Allah, may He be glorified, like all other matters of prescription or 
	legislation, that can only come from Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, 
	to Whom belong the power of creation and command, legislation and ruling, 
	permitting and forbidding. Allah, may He be glorified, has not prescribed 
	for us Muslims anything but two eids only, namely Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr; 
	then there is the weekly “eid”, which is the day of Jumu‘ah (Friday). 

	Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	All eids or festivals other than the prescribed eids are 
	innovated festivals that have been introduced into the religion. They were 
	not known at the time of the righteous early generations, and they may have 
	originated among non-Muslims. Therefore they involve the innovation of 
	imitating the enemies of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted. The 
	prescribed eids are well known to the Muslims; they are Eid al-Fitr and Eid 
	al-Adha, as well as the weekly eid (the day of Jumu‘ah). There are no other 
	eids in Islam apart from these three.

	End quote from Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (2/301) 

	Secondly: 

	The celebrations that happen on this day involve 
	entertainment, exuberance and foolishness that are contrary to the purpose 
	behind the prescription of the hijab, and indeed all other prescribed 
	rulings. That is because when it comes to the rulings prescribed by Allah, 
	may He be glorified, people should hasten to do them and adhere to them in a 
	spirit of humility, submission, seeking reward from Allah and aiming thereby 
	to draw close to Allah, may He be glorified, hoping for His reward and 
	fearing His wrath and punishment. As for women gathering on the so-called 
	World Hijab Day, in an atmosphere of fun, playing, celebrating and 
	exuberance, inviting women of all religions, nationalities and races to put 
	on the hijab for a single day so they can take pictures and publish these 
	pictures as a kind of advertisement, then take off the hijab after that – 
	all of that is a kind of toying with the commands of Allah, because hijab is 
	an act of worship in which it is essential to have the correct intention, 
	seeking reward with Allah and persisting in it. 

	Thirdly: 

	The kind of hijab that women wear on this day often makes a 
	mockery of this divinely-ordained obligation, and does more harm than good. 
	That is because with regard to hijab as prescribed in Islam, there are 
	conditions and criteria which, if they are met, then it is the correct 
	Islamic hijab that Allah has enjoined upon women. But if these conditions 
	are not met – in full or in part – then this cannot be called correct 
	Islamic hijab. These criteria have been discussed previously in fatwa no.
	6991. As for the hijab that women wear on this 
	occasion, in most cases it has nothing to do with correct Islamic hijab; in 
	fact all that the woman does in this case is cover her hair and body, but at 
	the same time she may be wearing pants, or the clothes may be tight and show 
	the shape of the body, or she may be wearing make-up, or the clothes that 
	she is wearing may be an adornment in and of themselves, as they are 
	colourful, adorned and attract attention or provoke desire in sick hearts. 
	All of these things are contrary to the hijab that Allah has enjoined. 

	Based on that, celebrating so-called World Hijab Day is not 
	permissible, even if the intention of the people behind it is good and 
	sincere. However sincere intention alone is not sufficient; rather it is 
	essential that the methods used should be in accordance with Islamic 
	teachings, and not involve anything that is contrary to the command of 
	Allah, may He be glorified.

	However, if a group of Muslims, men or women, gather in a 
	certain place at a certain time in order to promote the obligation of hijab 
	and inform people about it, then this is a good thing and comes under the 
	promotion of what is right and good, that Allah, may He be glorified, has 
	enjoined upon us. But when doing that, it is essential to adhere to the 
	following guidelines: 

	·
	they should not imitate the disbelievers and their 
	customary practices in celebrating such things

	·
	they should not allocate a specific day that is repeated 
	every year, because this is a kind of innovation, as explained above

	·
	they should call women to adhere to correct Islamic hijab, 
	fulfilling all the criteria and conditions that have been explained by the 
	scholars, as discussed in the fatwa referred to above

	·
	they should inform women that hijab is a well-established 
	obligation and an important act of worship, in which believing women worship 
	Allah, so they should hasten to do it and persist in it. As for calling 
	women to put on hijab for one or two days, and the like, that is not 
	permissible.

	And Allah knows best.