By Maira Butt
As the season of spooks approaches, millions of people across the world will be putting on their most terrifying outfits of in a rush to celebrate Halloween.
Halloween originates from Samhain, a Pagan festival celebrated by Celts on a day around 31 October, marking the end of the harvest season and a time to venerate ancestors, a moment when the veils between the worlds of the living and the dead are at their thinnest.
It coincides with Christian days venerating the departed. Halloween is on the eve of All Hallow’s Day, or All Saints Day, a time when there were vigils preparing for rituals commemorating Christian saints. This is followed by All Souls Day on 2 November, when all who have departed are remembered.
Samhain, which means summer’s end, grew in popularity and spread to America with colonialism. From there, its influence has enveloped the globe as 31 October becomes a night for trick-or-treating, dressing up, watching horror movies, and sharing ghost stories.
It can be a touchy subject for monotheistic religions, where demons, Satan, and evil are shunned and engagement with the topic is discouraged. But what are the Islamic beliefs around Halloween? What do Muslims believe about ghosts, witches, the supernatural and paranormal?
A belief in the Unseen realm (al-Ghaib) is a core belief in the Islamic faith and is mentioned on many occasions throughout the Quran. The Unseen comprises universes that are beyond human perception, as well as supernatural beings including angels, jinn (beings with free will created from smokeless fire), and evil entities such as Shaitan which seek to lead people away from their purpose and from Allah.
When it comes to supernatural entities, the scholar Fatima Barkatulla says there is an element of ultimate mystery.
She refers to a verse in the Quran in the sixth chapter Surah Al-An’am: “With Him are the keys of the Unseen — no one knows them except Him.”
Shaykha Barkatulla told the Religion Media Centre: “There are many stories which Muslims believe to be historically true about some of the prophets like Sulayman [Solomon] being given power to control elements of the Unseen realm. In Islam, belief in the supernatural is centred on the existence of beings such as angels, jinn [spirits], and Shaitan [Satan]. Muslims do not believe in ghosts as the spirits of the dead returning to Earth.
“Instead, after death, souls are believed to reside in the Barzakh — the state between death and resurrection — until the Day of Judgment. What some may perceive as ghosts could be manifestations of the jinn.
“Islam also acknowledges the existence of evil beings, like Shaitan and certain jinn, but these are not fictional monsters but real spiritual entities with free will, capable of good or evil. Jinn are probably what came to be caricatured as ‘genies’ in the western world.”
Tawheed is the belief in the oneness of God and the singularity of Allah as the only deity worthy of worship. With Tawheed being a central tenet of the faith, Muslims have to tread carefully when it comes to engaging in beliefs considered to be polytheistic or have Pagan roots.
Everything can be forgiven in the Islamic faith, except for a belief in a fragmented, split, or polytheistic conception of God — something known as shirk, or idolatry. However, interpretations of what this comprises vary.
Muslims, therefore, are generally discouraged from engaging in practices that circumvent a belief in Allah as the ultimate reality. These practices include witchcraft, which has ritualistic customs not considered divinely ordained.
“Islam acknowledges the existence of witchcraft (sihr), but it is viewed as an evil practice that is strictly condemned,” Shaykha Barkatulla says. “Witchcraft involves calling upon jinn or engaging in forbidden acts, and it is considered a major sin. The Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) warn against both practising and believing in witchcraft.
“Although fictional portrayals of witches in popular culture may differ, the Islamic understanding is that sorcery and supernatural acts meant to harm or deceive others are real but severely prohibited. Practising witchcraft can cause a person to be brought outside of Islam.”
Many Islamic scholars discourage the celebration of Halloween as it could lead one to inadvertently engage in polytheistic practices.
“Muslims cannot celebrate Halloween in any form due to its origins in Pagan and non-Islamic traditions,” Shaykha Barkatulla says.
She is firm on the issue: “Halloween is considered forbidden because of its historical connections to the Celtic festival of Samhain and its association with spirits, witchcraft, and satanic practices.”
However, Dar al-Ifta al Misriyyah, the Egyptian Fatwa Board, says a balanced approach is acceptable, citing that such events have now become “social occasions”.
In response to a question about the permissibility of Halloween and Valentine’s Day, it wrote: “Such kinds of celebrations have become social occasions. Therefore, there is no objection to participating in them provided a Muslim does not do anything that contradicts the Islamic creed.”
But Shaykha Barkatulla warns: “Participation in activities like dressing up, trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, and giving out candy is discouraged, as these actions are seen as indulging in a Pagan celebration. Even if Muslims participate without acknowledging its deeper meaning, they are still engaging in a practice that goes against Islamic values.”
When asked if it was OK to dress as characters that are not supernatural demons or witches, such as comic book characters, she advised: “If they are tied to an event like Halloween, Muslims should approach participation in such activities with caution. While dressing up for school or work may seem harmless, if it is part of a celebration or event that has non-Islamic roots, it is discouraged.”
However, Dr Shabir Ally, the Canadian Islamic scholar, and president of the Islamic Information and Dawah Centre, insists that too much inflexibility with the faith can lead to people leaving it.
“There seems to be a middle ground,” he said in an interview for Let the Quran Speak. “Muslims themselves can decide, based on their own inclinations, their own feelings, and how they interact with people, what their goals are as Muslims.”
He continued: “They can decide whether Halloween fits into those goals and the situation in which a person lives. If a Muslim child is saying, ‘Look, all my friends are going out trick-or-treating, why can I not go?’, a Muslim parent can say, ‘That’s because you’re a Muslim’. It adds up in the balance sheet of cost and benefit in the child’s mind like Islam is costing them greatly and they cannot have fun.
“So, this is one fun thing that they are deprived of, and then there’s going to be another fun thing, and a third fun thing, and a fourth one. So eventually, that could contribute to our children leaving Islam, because it becomes too difficult for them to be Muslim.”
Shaykha Barkatulla says: “Islam means surrendering to, or being at peace with, God. It is the original religion of Adam and the prophets who came after him.”
She adds: “Because it is so easy for the original religion that God revealed to human beings to be corrupted over time and become completely the opposite of what it came to teach, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) warned against introducing practices into the religion that could corrupt it. Islam also sought to remove superstitious practices and warn people against collusion with the world of spirits and demons in the form of witchcraft or magic.”
