Halloween

Hasanah heard the front door swing open and the thunder of shoes piling into the hallway long before she could close her math notebook. "As salaamu alaikum," the children said in unison, Abdul-Rahman burst into the living room first, backpack half-unzipped, cheeks flushed with excitement.

So your kids have come home and begged you to go trick-or-treating on Halloween night (October 31). They can't wait for all of the bubble gum, lollipops and jawbreakers, not to mention dressing up in a Pokemon or witch costume like the rest of their friends.

Halloween has evolved and been influenced by a number of different cultures and religions, the most important of which are paganism, the Romans, the Celts (the people of Ireland, Scotland, Britain, Wales) and Christianity.

Witches on brooms, dracula, evil powers on Halloween night: this is the stuff of Halloween nightmares many Muslims think.

Muslims have a number of reasons to be leery of Halloween. But so do Christians.