You might have heard about Black Friday, but many Muslims still do not understand it as it is a foreign term in Islamic teachings. Let’s understand more about what Black Friday is and its relationship to Thanksgiving, and what is the Islamic Ruling on Black Friday.
Black Friday is a colloquial term for the Friday after Thanksgiving, usually celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year in the United States.
Black Friday is also used to signify post-Thanksgiving shopping and the start of the Christmas shopping season, where on this day, many offline and online stores offer their products at high discounts to customers. Often, stores open very early, sometimes midnight, or even already open on Thanksgiving day and start their Black Friday sales to attract more customers.
Although Thanksgiving has been observed in the United States for centuries, it is now mainly celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of November after Franklin D Roosevelt issued the proclamation in 1942. However, Black Friday itself only began to be associated with Thanksgiving in the mid-20th century.
It is probably because of its association with Thanksgiving and Christmas that many Muslims are hesitant to participate in Black Friday shopping promotions.
In fact, today, Black Friday is simply a term that refers to a significant shopping promotion that falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving but has no direct affiliation with it. Black Friday has no religious or cultural connotations but only commercial matters. Therefore Muslims are allowed to buy goods sold on Black Friday or be part of the role in selling goods on that day.
This, of course, remains with a note that as Muslims, we participate in Black Friday to only refer it as a shopping day with significant discounts treat it like a typical day, free from impermissible elements such as with the intention of celebrating a religious celebration of another religion, eating haram food and te like.
