Pre-islamic Age of Ignorance: It is mentioned that the people of Medina had two festivals in the pre-islamic age of ignorance period. The people of Medina used to play games and have festivities on these days. When the Prophet (PBUH) migrated to Medina, when he saw these festivals of the Medinans, he asked them, “What are these two days?” and they replied, “We used to have festivities on these two days in the jahiliyyah period.” It is recorded that these two festivals celebrated by the people of Medina during the Jahiliyyah period were Nowruz[677] and Mihrican[678].

ISLAM: Islam has abolished the celebration of these festivals, namely Nowruz and Mihrican. The Prophet (PBUH) said: Allah (swt) has replaced these two festivals of yours with two better festivals than them: Iyd al-Fitr (Eid al-Fitr) and Iyd al-Adha (Eid al-Adha).[680]Eid days are days of peace and joy when sins are forgiven, the poor are made happy, and unity and solidarity are strengthened.

Nowadays: Nowadays, there are hardly any people in Muslim societies who keep the spirit of Eid alive.Today, although Eid is the most important of the branches of sıla-i rahimah[681], many people make visits for show.There are various reasons for this. One of the most common reasons is that the consent of the spouses is preferred to the pleasure of the elders of the family; the other is that people with financial means think that they are self-sufficient. Although the visits made with the consent of the spouses have not completely stopped, they have started to be short and for show. This is because the aim is not to win someone’s favour, but to complete the visit in a short time without causing unrest between the spouses. Visits made with the mentality of “Let there be no shame”, “Let them not say that he did not come” are included in this group. The other one is manifested by the person keeping the number of visits to a minimum with the assumption that he/she is not in need of anyone due to the comfort of financial means. These are in the group of visits made with the mentality of “So-and-so asks for a loan” or “Why should I go, let him come to me”. In addition to these, while Eid should be a solution point for situations such as envy, resentment and jealousy, these situations are among the reasons why Eid visits are not made. Here, the personal blame lies in not living a life as required by religion. The fact that the visits are made for show or not made at all for these and similar reasons brings sins such as backbiting, lying, gossip, showing off, and riya. Eid visits after these are done resemble soulless actions such as praying completely without ablution. This leads us to live with the understanding of the religion of jahiliyyah.[682] Because of this understanding, even in the regions where Muslim societies are formed, the festivals of Nowruz and Mihrican continue to be celebrated continuously, even though they are forbidden by Allah and His Messenger.

[677] In Persian, it is a combination of the words nev (new) and ruz (day) and means “new day”. Nowruz is the traditional new year, or in other words, the awakening of nature and spring festival celebrated by many peoples and communities in the northern hemisphere, especially the Turkic tribes.

[678] Autumn is one of the two major festivals of the Zoroastrian religion of the Kurds before they converted to Islam, following Nawruz. It is also called “Îdî/a Kurd”. It falls on the 16th day of the seventh solar month. It continues for six days until the 21st day of the month.

[679] Ali Osman Ateş, All Aspects of Islam in Asr-ı Saadet, Beyan Publications: Volume 2, p.45

[680] Abu Dawud, Sunan, I, 675; Nasa’i, Sunan, III, 179-180

[681] Visiting relatives and believers, keeping in touch with them, and forgiving their faults

[682] For the necessary explanation, see the section on “religion”