Can I Give My Wife a Wedding Anniversary Gift?

Question: it permissible for me to give a gift to my wife on our wedding anniversary each year?

Name of Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Al-`Uthaymeen

Content of Reply In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

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"If the husband wants to give his wife a gift, he should give it at any time or on any appropriate occasion or when there is a reason for doing so. He should not wait for the anniversary of their wedding to give her a gift because that implies that he is taking this day as an occasion that is celebrated regularly, and there are no annual festivals for the Muslims except `Eid Al-Fitr and `Eid Al-Adha. Wedding anniversaries came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his companions, and to the early generations of this Ummah and its imams, but there is no report that they used to give gifts to their wives on these days. And all goodness is to be found in following them."

Source: www.islam-qa.com

The late prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Muhammad Al-`Uthaymeen was asked if it is permissible for the husband to give a gift to his wife on their wedding anniversary each year as a renewal of the love between them, noting that this anniversary will be marked only by the giving of this gift and that the couple are not going to celebrate this occasion.

He replied: 'What I think is that this should not be done, because this year it may be just a gift, but next year it may become a celebration. Moreover, marking this occasion with a gift is regarded as making it an `eid because the `eid is that which is repeated. Love does not need to be renewed every year; rather it should be renewed all the time, every time the woman sees something of her husband that makes her happy, and every time the man sees something of his wife that makes him happy, then the love between them will be renewed.'"

Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islam-qa.com

Allah Almighty knows best.