A Particular Polytheistic Custom

Question

Within certain customs the following act is performed: a woman seven months pregnant is adorned in golden-red clothes; before her is placed an earthen bowl of boiled rice; a lamp is lit; the woman is seated on a low wooden platform facing the Ka‘ba, and fruit and the like are placed in her lap; friends and relatives are invited. What is the ruling on this?

Answer

This custom is not an Islamic practice; some things in it are polytheistic — for example, lighting a lamp specifically at that time (whether there is need for it or not), as is the way of the polytheists, who in their religion light it as a matter of belief and show veneration to it; and the other things mentioned are done as well. For such a custom, tawba (repentance)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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