Muslims who live in non Muslim countries have a few issues to deal with
at Christmas. First of all we should respect the religious traditions of
all religions whether we like what they are doing or not.
Each religious tradition has
praiseworthy points and to deny that is not seeing the facts. So respect
means we do not belittle others for their traditions or practices.
This goes back to the hadith in which the Prophet (may Allah bestow upon
him peace and blessings) told people not to curse their own father. How
does one curse ones father? By cursing another person’s father.
By
cursing other religious traditions one opens oneself to cursing of Islam. So many of us do not understand this point. The Prophet (may
Allah bestow upon him peace and blessings) was accused of cursing idols
but he was free from such actions because that was not in his character
to harm people.
Gifts and ties
Maintaining
family ties are important and very difficult now. As I am sure you all
know. So a new Muslim should realise it will be hard for relatives to see a change in
their child or sibling. So refusing gifts or cards might upset them
more. So accept the gift on the pretext it is sunnah and maintain the
ties. But give gifts in a different way. Like after crimbo or in the new
year!
You can go to the family meal as long as you eat the lawful and
stay away from wine and even sitting on a table that is serving wine.
There is a specific hadith about not sitting on a table serving wine.
For a born Muslim attending or making a Christmas party is sinful because there is no dispensation of maintaining family ties like the new Muslim. This form of imitation is blameworthy.
Is Christmas actually a Christian celebration?
There
are other traditions who used to have a winter celebration of some sort
in there culture. There was the winter solstice and the sacrifice of
the lamb of god are such beliefs. When Christianity came into Europe it
was unable to remove these practices and thus 'christianised' them, for
want of a better word.
In times gone by what
religion one was, was a source of pride and used to a tool to scorn
others. This is not true in the west now. As religion has ceased to be a
motivating factor in many peoples lives.
Although there are pockets
here and there who cling fast to traditional forms of Christianity. Most
keep it quiet from their own coworkers.
So now money is the main cause of pride and that’s what we throw in
peoples faces. In scant disregard to their mental health or even their
own emotions. Not all Christian groups are the same and this should be noted.
Some Christians have Christmas on a
different day and not 25th December, as they use different calendars.
What we do in the public sphere reflects on what we do at home. So to
say merry Christmas one could assume they were Christian too. But now it
does not seem to be the case because someone could just be replying to others
who said it. Now the books of belief are every strict about this and
say anyone who does say greeting according to other religions has caused
themselves to be disbelievers. Based on the hadith, "he who resembles a
people is one of them.”
These opinions were given about Muslims in Muslim countries and not Muslims in non Muslim countries, so a
modernists false argument is that you can say it. We have to bear in
mind that is best not to reply with merry Christmas but return it with
best wishes or have a good break or good time. Or some type of reply
that returns their goodwill and this is important. There is a sin attached to it but it could argued that disbelief does not occur for two reasons. Most people are not aware that it is forbidden and its religious significance does not remain in this time.
There are many good
people from other religions who want to help Muslims, so we should
return their goodwill with goodness and when eid comes give them
something. Most people do not make Eid in a better way than crimbo.
Instead they make eid boring and dull.
There is still a sin [in saying merry Christmas] there which could cause it to be highly
disliked but in non Muslim countries, saying merry Christmas does not
hold the same significance that it once did. But the best way to avoid the sin is not to say it.
Jesus upon him peace
Is
one of the five great Prophets and it is an obligation to respect them
all. We should never disrespect any prophet because of the actions of his
followers. We honour all prophets and messengers upon them all peace. We
do not believe that he was born in winter because the rutub form of
date that Maryam (upon her peace) only come to fruition during summertime. See Quranic surah 19 about the birth for more details.
For us
to say that we should be happy about Jesus’s birth. Is a true statement
but he was not born on Christmas. The day and even the year is disputed.
There are a few books to read about Jesus Muhammad attars book. Also Mysteries of Jesus by Ruqayah Waris Maqsood is an excellent work on this matter.
Santa
We have to explain to children that Santa is not real and that we
should not celebrate Christmas. Some parents used to give gifts to their
children and when one child said 'I wonder what santa has brought us
tomorrow.' One parent retorted, 'santa did not bring you those presents, I
did.' Then after a long night of wanting to see how a fat old man could
fit down a chimney, they realized no one came during the night. Of
course the treats were left uneaten and this was a cause of much
dismay.
Explain to children that this is not our way but we respect
other traditions. Children should get more stuff for Eid and not get things for Christmas. Most children are spoiled and giving them more technology is like throwing them in the bin!
Most
of all we have to realise we need to be part of the western world
without losing our own heritage and traditional Islamic world view. When
we respect others then they will respect our religion and this will
bring us closer. We will then realise that we are not that far apart.
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