“Valentine’s Day” … An Imposed Reality or a Rejected Abomination?

Love is an instinct in souls, and the guidance of Islam in it is known. As for what is called “Valentine’s Day,” it is not from this realm, but rather from different religions and traditions entirely contradictory to ours, and its purposes are corrupt for those who examine it closely, as we shall explain. Celebrating Valentine’s Day, or what is known as “Valentine’s Day,” is due to the ignorance of their religion.

We should clarify the origin of this alleged holiday so that every wise and discerning person can understand its religious ruling without doubt or equivocation.

Origin of “Valentine’s Day”

Since judgment on something is derived from its concept, it is incumbent upon us to know the origin of this holiday, to whom it is attributed, and who is this “Valentine”?

Opinions differ in identifying the personality of “Valentine” and the origin of his story. Some say he is “Valentine,” while others speak of more than one “Valentine.” The common denominator among all those attributed to “Valentine’s Day” is as follows:

The most famous story, as mentioned on Wikipedia and also by CBBC, is that there is no fixed true story about this saint so far. His story varies from one region to another, but the closest story is that Valentine was a Christian priest who used to marry Christian lovers among themselves. Because Christianity was prohibited in the Roman Empire, he was punished for practising the secrets of the church. Due to this, the Roman authorities arrested him and sentenced him to death, and he became famous since then as the so-called “martyr of love and lovers” because he sacrificed his life for the secret of marriage.

The Catholic Encyclopedia mentioned that the priest “Valentine” lived in the late third century AD under the rule of the Roman Emperor “Claudius II,” and the emperor imprisoned the priest because he disobeyed some of his orders. In prison, he met the daughter of one of the prison guards, and he fell in love with her. She converted to Christianity along with 46 of her relatives, and she used to visit him with a red rose to give to him. When the emperor saw what was happening, he ordered his execution. The priest knew about this, so he sent her a card with the inscription “From your Valentine,” and then he was executed on February 14th, 270 AD.

Ruling on Celebrating Valentine’s Day

After understanding the origin of Valentine’s Day, what reassures the heart is to declare the prohibition of celebrating this holiday, for the following reasons:

1. Due to the historical roots of this holiday, whether pagan or Christian, such celebrations are not permissible.
2. Because it involves imitation of others in matters contrary to what the Shariah dictates. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, referred to our celebrations, saying: “Indeed, every nation has its festival, and this is our festival.”
3. Being a holiday of others makes prohibition inherent in it, as Allah has substituted for us better festivals, as mentioned in the hadith: “Allah has replaced them with better: the day of Eid al-Fitr and the day of sacrifice.”
4. It contains violations of Shariah principles.

Love in Islam

What I would like to discuss here is love in its known and famous meaning. It is a meaning that has been lost among people, between those who advocate for it and those who reject it, between those who permit it and those who forbid it, between those who praise it and those who condemn it, between those who see it as restrictive and those who see it as expansive, to the extent that some are confused about the matter of love.

The truth is that the love that people have come to know between men and women is not prohibited by Shariah as long as it adheres to its legal boundaries. Can life be accepted without love? Or can life continue without its agony if it exists, and its pain if it is absent?

So that my words are not misunderstood, I say that it is not Shariah-compliant for a man to be attached to a married or engaged woman, just as it is not permissible for a woman to be attached to a foreign man. However, mere admiration from one of the parties, which is accompanied by the desire for lawful union (marriage), is not forbidden by Shariah.

Attempting to repel what people have come to know as love is an escape from the instinct, “upon which He (Allah) has created mankind” [Surah Ar-Rum: 30], and it is killing the instinct that Allah has entrusted to the hearts of humans. Therefore, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, acknowledged this love, and indeed lived it among his wives. His sayings, peace be upon him, straightened those who were crooked in this field among the people.