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Question
What is the ruling on offering congratulations on the occasion of the Hijri new year and saying “Kull ‘am wa antum bi khayr” or praying for blessing, or sending a card with best wishes for blessings in the new year?
Answer
Praise be to Allah.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: What is the ruling on congratulating people on the occasion of the Hijri new year, and how should one reply to a person who offers congratulations?
He replied:
“If someone offers you congratulations, then respond to him, but do not initiate such greetings. This is the correct view concerning this matter. So if a person says to you, for example, “Happy New Year”, then you can say, “May Allah make it a good and blessed year for you.” But you should not initiate such a greeting, because I do not know of any report that the salaf [early generations of Islam] congratulated one another on the occasion of the new year, rather the salaf did not regard the first of al-Muharram as the first day of the new year until the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him.”
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim al-Khudayr said concerning offering congratulations on the occasion of the hijri new year:
“Praying for another Muslim in general terms, in phrases that are not meant as a kind of ritual on special occasions such as ‘Eid, is acceptable, especially if what is meant by this greeting is friendship and to show a friendly face to one’s fellow Muslim. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “I do not initiate the greeting but if someone greets me I return the greeting, because responding to the greeting is obligatory. But being the first to offer congratulations is neither Sunnah nor forbidden.
