Celebrating Wedding Anniversaries in Islam

Praise be to Allah.

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 “`Eid” (an occasion that is celebrated regularly), and there are no annual `Eids for the Muslims except `Eid Al-Fitr and `Eid Al-Adha.

These occasions – wedding anniversaries – came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his companions, and the Salaf (righteous predecessors) 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.

Shaykh Ibn `Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: is it 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 said:

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. (End quote from Fatawa Al-`Ulama’ fi `Ishrat An-Nisa’, p. 162)

For more details, please see the following answers: 145893, 115148, 1027, 10070.

And Allah knows best.