First of all, we would like to stress that refraining from eating certain things such as meat, chicken eggs etc. or refraining from certain practices and acts such as having marriage ceremonies, opening new shops etc., during specific days of the month of Muharram has no religious backing from either the Qur’an or the Sunnah. Such things are classed as baseless rumors and superstitions attached to the month of Muharram without legal evidence.
For foods, a Muslim is permitted to eat different types of foods at different occasions and in different times as long as there is no religious reservation such as eating during the daytime of Ramadan or consuming food that is originally unlawful such as swine products.
For marriage, Islam urges its followers to marry as soon as possible as long as they are financially and physically able. Marriage in Islam is both a religious ordinance as well as a Prophetic Sunnah. What has been circulated regarding marriage in the month of Muharram is a baseless claim that has no any religious backing.
Tackling the issue from a broader and wider dimension, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former President of the Islamic Society of North America, said the following:
“The Day of `Ashura‘ (10th of Muharram) is certainly a sad day in the history of Islam. It was on this day that the grandson of the Prophet (i.e. Imam Al-Husayn, may Allah be pleased with him) along with many members of his family were brutally massacred in Karbela’ in the year 61 of Hijrah or 680 of the common era.
It is important to remember those tragic events and to derive lessons from them. It is also the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to fast on the 9th and 10th days of Muharram. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did fast on this day remembering Allah’s deliverance of Prophet Musa (peace and blessings be upon him) and his followers from the persecution and oppression under the Pharaoh of Egypt.
However, besides fasting and remembering the tragic events of Imam Al-Husayn’s martyrdom, there is no other mourning required on these days.
There is nothing wrong in holding wedding ceremonies or any other parties on this day or in the month of Muharram as such. All days belong to Allah and Muslims should not take any superstitions from any months or days.”
Moreover, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, an Islamic scholar adds:
“In Islam, no one is allowed to declare things as haram (forbidden) based on pure whims and fancies without the sanction of revelation.
There is nothing in the Qur’an to indicate that we are barred from getting married or forging marital unions during the month of Muharram; nor there is anything in the Prophet’s traditions or in the traditions of pious forbears or in the teachings of the authentic schools of jurisprudence to that effect. If there had been such a thing, it would have been definitely transmitted to us in a clear way.
Therefore, if anyone still persists in such beliefs or practices, they are doing so based solely on customs and conventions that have no basis in authentic religious knowledge. It is high time that we isolate such customs from the pristine religious beliefs and practices.”