Juantie why did the article make you raise an eyebrow? The sheikh is only stating the widely held view amongst muslim scholars based on evidence from the Quran and the Prophet's (pbuh) sayings...the two sources we use to live our lives.

The issue is not that birthdays are not allowed but that ALL newly invented matters (including celebrations) are equally not allowed. These are considered to 'muddy' the original message as happened with previous revealed religions. It's called quality control :-).