Going to buy goods at the Chamar Chaudas fair

Question

In Deoband there is the Chaudas (a Hindu religious festival with a fair), which is a religious fair of the Hindu gentlemen; on the 12th and 13th of the lunar month a Hindu rite of ritual worship and recitation is celebrated, and for Muslims to take part in it would certainly be a sin. After the dates mentioned, a bazaar and the like remains for a few days, in which goods are bought and sold. The bazaar shops are set up far off, at a considerable distance from the mandir (temple) where this rite is performed.

Answer

Although the dates of the rite are only the 12th/13th, this whole fair is held in that name, and those who take part in it are taking part in this impermissible fair. Even after those dates have passed, the fair of the remaining days is the remainder of that original fair.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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