This point is self-evident and admits no doubt: were people to revive those two bygone festivals in any form of the practices once associated with them—believing such revival to be permissible—it would amount to open defiance of what the Prophet expressly forbade, and eliminating that defiance is precisely what is required.

Moreover, the danger posed by the festivals of the Jews and Christians—festivals we allow them to observe in their own communities—is even greater than the danger posed by the pre-Islamic fêtes that we do not allow at all. The ummah has been warned against imitating the Jews and Christians, and it has been foretold that some Muslims will nevertheless fall into that very imitation. By contrast, the religion of jāhiliyyah will not resurface until the end of time, when the souls of the believers are taken in large numbers. Even if it were not more hazardous, it is at least equally so, for—as is obvious—an evil that already has active proponents is more feared than an evil for which there is no strong incentive.

The second ḥadīth:

Abū Dāwūd relates—Dawūd ibn Rashīd told us; Shuʿayb ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; from al-Awzāʿī; who said, Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr narrated to me, saying