Islamic Seminary Issues Fatwa on...Birthdays?

Considered one of the Islamic world's leading seminaries, "Darul Uloom Deoband" has informed Muslims around the world that a fatwa has been issued against celebrating birthdays as doing so is allegedly against shariah law. According to the Indian seminary's vice chancellor, birthdays are also only a "tradition of Western countries."

"Muslims should not follow the tradition of Western culture of celebrating birthdays as it against the Sharia," said, Maulana Abul Kasim Naumani.

Naumani added that Islamic seminary does not even celebrate their prophet Muhammed's birthday.

Asia News adds:

Responding to a query of a student, the fatwa department of the country's biggest Islamic seminary said that Islam does not permit such celebrations as they are against the Sharia. The query was made in reference to the birthday celebration of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University.

Deobandi (literally of the city of Deoband) is a Muslim religious movement present in the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan that follows the Hanafi legal school (madhhab).

Their main institution is a seminary in the Indian city of Deoband, in Sahāranpur District (Uttar Pradesh), about 140 km northeast of Delhi.

It hosts up to 1,500 students and its library is endowed with some 70,000 traditional legal books, prints and manuscripts

Not even innocent birthday celebrations are beyond the reproach of Islamic clerics. What will be next?

(h/t: WeaselZippers)