Short answer
Yes. Muslims should not celebrate Halloween. It grew out of a pagan festival about the spirits of the dead, and today it centres on ghosts, witches and the occult, which clash with Islamic belief. The Hanafi scholars, like the other schools, forbid adopting the festivals of other faiths. Being kind to neighbours remains a duty.
Celebrating Halloween, dressing up for it, decorating, or trick-or-treating is not permitted, as it imitates a festival with religious and occult roots.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Halloween goes back to Samhain, a Celtic festival when people believed the spirits of the dead walked the earth. It was later tied to All Hallows' Eve, the night before the Christian feast of All Saints. Today most people treat it as fun, but its themes are still ghosts, witches, demons and death.
The Hanafi muftis, along with the other schools, rule it out for three reasons. Islam has its own two festivals. The Prophet ﷺ warned that whoever imitates a people is one of them. And the day celebrates magic and the world of jinn and spirits, which Islam treats with seriousness, not as a game. Read about jinn in Islam.
Practical questions:
- Children and school: explain calmly why your family does not celebrate it. Ask the school to let them skip costume parades, and plan a fun family evening of your own.
- Neighbours' children at the door: scholars differ. Many Hanafi muftis advise keeping the porch light off. Some allow giving sweets to children who knock, simply as good neighbourliness, without decorations or dressing up.
- Discounted sweets on 1 November: buying them is fine.
Your children will not miss out if you give them joy at Eid. Make your two Eids the biggest days of their year.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Furqaan 25:72
وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ ٱلزُّورَ وَإِذَا مَرُّوا۟ بِٱللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا۟ كِرَامًۭا ﴿٧٢﴾
And [they are] those who do not testify to falsehood, and when they pass near ill speech, they pass by with dignity.
Early scholars explained this as not attending the festivals of other religions.
Sunan Abi Dawud 4031
Graded hasan sahih... من تشبه بقوم فهو منهم ...
"Whoever imitates a people is one of them."
Adopting another faith's festival is forbidden.
Sunan Abi Dawud 1134
Graded sahih... إن الله قد أبدلكم بهما خيرا منهما يوم الأضحى ويوم الفطر ...
"Allah has given you in place of them something better: the day of al-Adha and the day of al-Fitr."
Muslims have two set festivals.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Iqtida al-Sirat al-Mustaqim (Ibn Taymiyya), Discussion of the festivals of non-Muslims. Muslims do not adopt the festivals of other communities.
- al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, Kitab al-Siyar, chapter on the rulings of apostates. Honouring non-Muslim festivals is treated as very grave.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.