Once upon a time there were two options for expectant parents: either find out your baby’s gender from a doctor, or don’t. Some are choosing a more festive route and getting the big news from a cake. The concept of inviting friends and family to share one’s reaction at a “gender reveal party”. In the case of a Gender Reveal Party, the ultrasound tech hands the parents-to-be a sealed envelope containing the big news (no peeking!), which is then handed over to a baker. That baker, holding privileged information that no one else knows, will then make a cake filled with pink or blue frosting, which the expectant couple will cut open at a party of big or small proportions. (Or they just privately cut the cake open for millions of YouTube viewers and hundreds of Facebook friends to see.)

This “gender reveal party” first gained popularity after the “Today” show asked Josh and Anna Duggar to cut a white-frosted cake on-air, revealing a pink interior and, thus, the sex of their daughter-to-be. As Muslims, we do not follow the practices and the cultural ways of the non-Muslims.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى has distinguished and honoured the Muslim Ummah by Islam. He سبحانه وتعالى made Islam a Muslim woman’s way of life, the source of her unique concepts and rules, and a comprehensive and complete system for all of her life’s affairs. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ
“You are the best ummah singled out for mankind: you enjoin what is right (ma’roof), forbid what is wrong (munkar), and believe in Allah.” [Al-Imran:110]

Since the abolishment of Islam, from life, as a ruling system, the state of the Ummah has been declining from one bad stage to a worse one. The Ummah is being ruled by Kufr laws, dominated by Kufr concepts, invaded by the West with its corrupt culture and repugnant promiscuity, and as a result, It has corrupted the Ummah’s Deen, ethics and future generations.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said in a hadith mention in Abu Dawood : “Whoever imitates or resembles a people is one of them.”

Imitation, which is prohibited, is effected in one of the following two ways:

a) One does something with the intention of imitating the non-Muslims, meaning one does so because one wants to be like a particular non-believer or non-believers.

b) Doing something that is unique and exclusive to the non-believers or it is part of their faith. This will also be considered imitation, thus Haram (unlawful).

We should try our best to oppose the practices of the non-Muslims. We should appear in such a manner that we can be distinguished from who are Muslims and who are not Muslims. Following the ways of the non-Muslims don’t make us disbelievers, but it appears as though we are accepting their culture and their practices, and we are supporting their actions.

Imitating the Kuffar in any of their religious affairs or in any gesture that distinguishes them as groups is forbidden. Abu Saeed Al-Khudri رضي الله عنه reported that Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said: “You will indeed follow the ways of those before you, hand span by hand span, and an arm’s length after another. Even if they enter into a lizard’s hole, you will follow them. We asked, is it the Jews and the Christians? He صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم replied, “Who else!” (Muslim)

This hadith condemns imitating them. It is a proof for the prohibitions of imitating the Jews and the Christians in their occasions, symbols, or any matter related to their belief. As Muslims, we are to follow the ways that symbolize Islam and that are in contradiction to the ways of the kuffaar and western society. Let us not dive into the lizard’s hole by hosting or participating in ‘gender reveal parties’.