Praise be to Allaah, the Lord
o

of the Worlds, and blessings and
peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family
and companions.
Allaah has chosen for us Islam as our religion and He will not
accept any other religion from anyone, as He says:
“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will
never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be
one of the losers.” [Aali ‘Imraan 3:85]
And the Prophet () told us that groups of his ummah would
follow the enemies of Allaah in some of their rituals and customs,

as it says in the hadeeth of Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri (), who nar-
rated that the Prophet () said:

“You will certainly follow the ways of those who came
before you, span by span, cubit by cubit, until even if
they were to enter a lizard’s hole, you would follow
them.” We said, “O Messenger of Allaah, (do you mean)
the Jews and Christians?” He said, “Who else!?”(Narrated
by al-Bukhaari in al-I’tisaam bi’l-Kitaab wa’l-Sunnah, Baab
Qawl al-Nabi () La tattabi‘unna Sanan man kaana qablakum,
8/151; and by Muslim in Kitaab al-‘Ilm, Baab Ittibaa’ Sanan
al-Yahood wa’l-Nasaara, 4/2054)
What the Prophet () spoke of has indeed come to pass and has

become widespread in recent times, in many of the Muslim coun-
tries. Many of the Muslims follow the enemies of Allaah in many

of their customs and ways of behaving, and imitate them in some
of their rituals and in celebrating their holidays.
The matter has been made even worse by the opening up of mass

communications between peoples, whereby the rituals and cus-
toms of the kuffaar are now transmitted with the glamorous

adornment of sound and image from their countries into the
Muslim countries, via satellite TV and the World Wide Web
(Internet). Many Muslims have been deceived by their glamour.

In recent years, a new phenomenon has spread among the Mus-
lim youth – males and females alike – which does not bode well.

This is manifested in their imitation of the Christians in their
celebration of the Valentine’s Day, which has led the scholars and
daa‘iyahs to explain the rulings of sharee‘ah concerning that, out
of sincerity towards Allaah, His Messenger, the leaders of the
Muslims and their common folk, so that Muslims may have a
clear understanding of this issue and so that they will not fall into
that which will undermine the belief (‘aqeedah) with which Allaah
has blessed them.
This is a brief discussion of the origins, development and purpose
of this holiday, and what the Muslim should do with regard to it.

The Story of the Festival of Love (Valentine’s Day)

The Festival of Love was one of the festivals of the pagan Ro-
mans, when paganism was the prevalent religion of the Romans

more than seventeen centuries ago. In the pagan Roman concept,
it was an expression of “spiritual love”.

There were myths associated with this pagan festival of the Ro-
mans, which persisted with their Christian heirs. Among the most

famous of these myths was the Roman belief that Romulus, the
founder of Rome, was suckled one day by a she-wolf, which gave
him strength and wisdom.
The Romans used to celebrate this event in mid-February each
year with a big festival. One of the rituals of this festival was the
sacrifice of a dog and a goat. Two strong and muscular youths
would daub the blood of the dog and goat onto their bodies, then
they would wash the blood away with milk. After that there
would be a great parade, with these two youths at its head, which
would go about the streets. The two youths would have pieces of
leather with which they would hit everyone who crossed their
path. The Roman women would welcome these blows, because
they believed that they could prevent or cure infertility.

The Connection between Saint Valentine and this Festival

Saint Valentine is a name which is given to two of the ancient
“martyrs” of the Christian Church. It was said that there were
two of them, or that there was only one, who died in Rome as the
result of the persecution of the Gothic leader Claudius, c. 296
CE. In 350 CE, a church was built in Rome on the site of the
place where he died, to perpetuate his memory.

When the Romans embraced Christianity, they continued to cele-
brate the Feast of Love mentioned above, but they changed it

from the pagan concept of “spiritual love” to another concept
known as the “martyrs of love”, represented by Saint Valentine

who had advocated love and peace, for which cause he was mar-
tyred, according to their claims. It was also called the Feast of

Lovers, and Saint Valentine was considered to be the patron saint
of lovers.
One of their false beliefs connected with this festival was that the

names of girls who had reached marriageable age would be writ-
ten on small rolls of paper and placed in a dish on a table. Then

the young men who wanted to get married would be called, and
each of them would pick a piece of paper. He would put himself
at the service of the girl whose name he had drawn for one year,
so that they could find out about one another. Then they would
get married, or they would repeat the same process again on the
day of the festival in the following year.
The Christian clergy reacted against this tradition, which they
considered to have a corrupting influence on the morals of young
men and women. It was abolished in Italy, where it had been

well-known, then it was revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, when in some western countries there appeared shops

which sold small books called “Valentine’s books”, which con-
tained love poems, from which the one who wanted to send a

greeting to his sweetheart could choose. They also contained sug-
gestions for writing love letters.

It was also said concerning the origins of this holiday that when
the Romans became Christian, after Christianity had become
widespread, the Roman emperor Claudius II decreed in the third
century CE that soldiers should not get married, because marriage
would distract them from the wars they used to fight. This decree

was opposed by Saint Valentine, who started to perform mar-
riages for the soldiers in secret. When the emperor found out

about that, he threw him in jail and sentenced him to execution.

In prison, he (Saint Valentine) fell in love with the jailer’s daugh-
ter, but this was a secret because according to Christian laws,

priests and monks were forbidden to marry or fall in love. But he

is still regarded highly by the Christians because of his steadfast-
ness in adhering to Christianity when the emperor offered to par-
don him if he forsook Christianity and worshipped the Roman

gods; then he would be one of his closest confidantes and he
would make him his son-in-law. But Valentine refused this offer
and preferred Christianity, so he was executed on 14 February
270 CE, on the eve of February 15, the festival of Lupercalis. So
this day was named for this saint.
In “The Story of Civilization”, it says that the Church devised a
calendar in which every day was designated as the feast day of
one of the saints. In England, Saint Valentine’s Day was to come
at the end of winter. When that day came, according to them, the

birds mated enthusiastically in the forests, and the young men
would put flowers on the windowsills of the homes of the girls
whom they loved. (“The Story of Civilization” by Will Durant,
15/23)
The Pope designated the day of the death of Saint Valentine,
February 14, 270 CE, as a festival of love. Who is the Pope? He is
the “the archbishop, the supreme pontiff of the universal church,
the successor of Saint Peter.” Look at this “archbishop” and how
he prescribed for them the observance of this festival which was
an innovation in their religion. This reminds us of what Allaah
says:
“They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their
monks to be their lords besides Allaah (by obeying them
in things which they made lawful or unlawful according
to their own desires without being ordered by Allaah)...”
[al-Tawbah 9:31]
It was narrated that ‘Adiy ibn Haatim said:
“I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) wearing a gold cross around my neck. He

said, ‘O ‘Adiy, cast aside this idol.’ And I heard him re-
citing from Soorat Baraa`ah [al-Tawbah]:

‘They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their
monks to be their lords besides Allaah.’

He said: ‘They do not worship them, but when they per-
mit them something they accept it as permitted, and

when they forbid them something they accept it as for-
bidden.’ ” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi and it is a hasan

hadeeth.)

 Due to the pitiful state which the Ummah of Muhammad may God praise him is in, due to the lack of knowledge of Muslims about their religion, and due to the high regard which some Muslims hold for Western thought and culture, we see that a hideous practice which contradicts the very principles of chastity and honor in Islam has crept into many Muslim societies. Many people don’t realize the origins and consequences of this shameful celebration, but rather blindly follow its rites and customs to be closer to the West, not thinking of the sin and displeasure they are earning from Allah.This Book study the ruling concerning this celebration and statements of scholars in this regard.