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"NO #ValentinesDay" Campaign By Islampos Receives Nasty Backlash On FB. What's Your Take?

"I'm Muslim. NO ‪#‎ValentinesDay‬."

By Sadho Ram — 08 Feb 2015, 12:34 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago

Cover image via Islampos

In a bid to stop the influence of Western culture, people from the Muslim community in Indonesia have started an online movement against Valentine's Day

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

Organised by Islampos, it's being called "I'm Muslim. NO #ValentinesDay", with the purpose to discourage Muslims from celebrating the day

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

A rough translation of a post written in Malay explains the idea behind rejecting the very Valentine's Day using the hashtag '#ValentinesDay' instead of '#NoValentinesDay'

"Hopefully the hashtag '#ValentinesDay' will be seen by our Muslim brothers and sisters who celebrate Valentine's Day and they will notice and take part in it as they might not with the hashtag '#NoValentinesDay'."

The Islampos Facebook page, which has asked its followers to send their profile pictures with words "I'm a Muslim. NO #ValentinesDay", has been flooded with entries, majority of which are from boys

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

While there are several posts promoting the anti-valentine's day campaign, one post in particular has gone viral, inviting over 41K Likes and thousands of comments

Screengrab of the original post from the page.

Screengrab of the original post from the page.

Image via Islampos

The post is filled with people in support and in against of the campaign, with a majority of them being too critical and resentful towards the people behind the campaign. While mostly Indonesian, several of the commenters are from Malaysia!

One of the top comments, with maximum number of Likes, is from a Muslim girl who, to put it mildly, couldn't care less about the anti-valentine's day campaign

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

A cursory glance over the comment section reveals that commenters are either insulting people saying NO to Valentine's Day or questioning why they are not going against other more important things that affects their lives

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

A lot of them are also pointing out how no one is forcing anyone to actually celebrate Valentine's Day, calling the campaign a joke and stupid among other insulting things

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

However, comments inside the photos posted on the page show Muslims against the campaign are trying to explain this sort of activity is what brings bad name to the religion

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

While many commenters mocked the posters

Image from imgur.com
Image via imgur.com
Image from imgur.com
Image via imgur.com
Image from imgur.com
Image via imgur.com

Several of them also expressed that even if we do not believe in such occasions we should respect different religion and cultures in order to grow together

Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos
Image from Islampos
Image via Islampos

While everybody is entitled to their views and can express them freely, is opposing an occasion like Valentine's Day in a collective force taking things too far? Or do you think netizens are needlessly being hostile to the posters?

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