Muslims don't like anniversaries, except when they do

According to the MEMRI blog:

Saudi Mufti Abd Al-'Aziz bin 'Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh has called marking anniversaries and birthdays a false Christian custom.

He said that a Muslim must thank Allah if his son is alive, healthy, and well, or if he has had a stable married life over the years.

It is one thing to say that it is an unIslamic custom; that implies that it is better for Muslims not to do it. But by calling celebrating anniversaries and birthdays "Christian" the Mufti is now saying explicitly that celebrating these occasions is an act of apostacy, and the implication is that it would be justified to kill Muslims who do this.

More amusing is the fact that the Palestinian Arab calendar is filled with anniversaries. Just this month:

8/5 Shefa-'Amr massacre anniversary
8/15 Anniversary of Hezbollah "victory"
8/21 Anniversary burning of Al Aqsa mosque
8/27 Anniversary of assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa (PFLP)

These anniversaries use the dhimmi Christian calendar to calculate the days, not the holy Muslim calendar.

Perhaps it is halal to celebrate only certain kinds of anniversaries....