Referring a Jumuah (Friday) as Black Friday & Shopping From Black Friday Sale

NOTE: It should be noted that the below answer is the English translation of the Fatwa issued by Jamia Uloom Islamia Allama Yusuf Banuri Town, Karachi, Pakistan.

Question

In Pakistan, during the last days of the year, one of the Friday is promoted & named Black Friday, and discounts are given on online shopping. Is it permissible for Muslims to name one of the Fridays as Black Friday? Is black a symbol of mourning in Islam?

Answer

According to the hadith, Friday is the most prominent &blessed day of all the days. This day is distinctly reserved for Muslims to worship. Muslims have been commanded to respect & honor this day. Naming it black Friday (Regardless of its basis) is against its respect & reverence. Although some people justify it by saying that traders used to write their trade profit with black ink and deficit with red ink and because of the high gain of profit on this specific Friday They started calling it “Black Friday”. The other justification is that on a Friday before Christmas people came out on the streets for the preparation of Christmas and the streets look black because of the crowd so they named it black Friday.

This day [Black Friday] is also a social and cultural day for non-Muslims. As Muslims are not allowed to practice and participate in non-Muslim religious festivals, similarly they are commanded to avoid their social & non-Islamic culture.

In Islam, no day or color is a symbol of mourning and misfortune. Associating black color with anything or day is inappropriate. though words used commonly in an inappropriate sense are forbidden for us to use in our speech. As it is stated in the Holy Hadith: “When a believer commits a sin, a black dot appears on his heart. If he repents black is cleansed and if he sins more, the black dot keeps growing until the blackness covers his heart”. Here the heart of a person who is averse to crime and sin is called a “black heart”. (Similar to it many other words are used, such as black deeds, in contrast to the bright and glorious times and deeds)

Also, Islamic law commands us to choose the best and proper words in our speech and prohibits the use of any word which may have an inappropriate meaning even if the speaker does not have that meaning in his intention. In verse 104 of Surah Al-Baqarah of the Holy Qur’an, Allah Almighty forbade the believers to use the word “Ra’ina” (راعنا), although the meaning of this word is not wrong.

The commentators write that the meaning of “ra’ina” (راعنا) is: “take care of us”. The listener used the word to get the attention of the speaker when he did not understand something, but the Jews used this word by distorted it a little due to their jealousy and grudges against Islam which led to a change in its meaning. This satisfies their hatred & bigotry. Thus, believers have commanded:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا ۗ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“O you who believe! Do not say, ‘Ra’ina’ (راعنا) while speaking, instead say, ‘Unzurna’ (انظرنا). Listen, and for the disbelievers is a painful punishment.”

One of the rule of Islam which derived from this verse is that it is not correct to use derogatory and insulting words while speaking to other people due to their respect and dignity. If there is an illusion of wrong meanings in some phrases, they should also be abandoned and other words and phrases should be used in their place to avoid any misinterpretation.

The second ruling is to avoid any kind of similarity (practices or sayings) with the disbelievers so that the Muslims do not become the part of that promise of the hadeeth,” Whoever imitates a nation will be counted among them .”

The gist of this detail is that it is not permissible to call the blessed day of Friday “Black Friday” and to make it customary for Muslims to join non-Muslims on the occasion of this particular day. Anyway If one buys from this day’s sale, it will not be called haraam.

Is it permissible to buy from Black Friday sale?

It is better to avoid promoting and taking advantage of non-Muslim festivals, anyway! If one buys from this sale, it will not be called haraam.