[IslamCity] Celebrating Christmas

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 08:29:02 -0800

Fatwa Question Details
Name Hind   - Canada
Title May I Celebrate Christmas With My Christian Mother?
Question Dear brothers and sisters, As-salamu `alaykum. I am currently reverting to Islam. My mother is Catholic, my father Muslim, but does not practice. I have always celebrated Christmas even though I've never been Christian. I've read some advice that warns Muslims not to partake in other holidays, but if I don't, my mother will be very hurt. I am torn. Is it wrong to celebrate the birth of Jesus? We believe in him too, and exchanging gifts for the benefit of my mother and Christian friends does not mean that I adhere to a belief in the Trinity. Please respond; your advice would be greatly appreciated. Jazakum Allah khayran.
Date 26/Dec/2005
Mufti Ahmad Kutty
Topic Customs & Traditions
Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear sister in Islam, we are greatly impressed by your question, for it’s related to the affairs of the new Muslims. We seize the chance to earnestly implore Allah from the depths of our hearts to lead all perplexed men and women to the light of Islam, the true religion of Allah. We welcome all our new Muslim brothers and sisters to the fold of Islam.
 
Islam encourages the Muslim to have kind and compassionate relationship with his parents and all his relatives whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. As a Muslim, you are encouraged to show all forms of kindness and mercy towards your non-Muslim mother. Let her see the true teachings of Islam as practiced by you and be a good ambassador of your religion.

Responding to the question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

Islam is all for treating our parents, relatives and friends compassionately. As a Muslimah, it is your duty to be most gentle and kind to them, especially your parents. Allah says, (Keep their company with kindness in this world, and follow the path of him who turns to Me. Then unto Me will you return, and I shall tell you what you did.) (Luqman 31: 15)

Keeping good company of one’s parents includes accepting their invitations, eating with them all foods that are permissible for us to consume, which excludes pork, intoxicants, and that which has been immolated to idols.

You are allowed to participate in the festivities of Christmas or holiday seasons on condition that you abstain from specific religious rituals associated with them, if any. As Muslims we revere Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) as one of the mighty messengers of Allah; we would have certainly celebrated the same, if only it had been a tradition established by Jesus and his authentic disciples. We certainly know that was not the case. It is all too well known that celebration of Christmas was introduced into Christianity in the manner of the pagan cultic rituals prevailing in the lands that the Christians conquered and as such, it is not something to be cherished as an authentic Christian festival.  We also believe, as many learned scholared Christians believe, that the true time of Jesus's birth was sometime in late summer, early fall.

Muslims refuse to deify not only Prophet Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) but anyone else for that matter including Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). We believe in all prophets, and consider them all as preaching the same essential message: Do not worship any other gods but Allah.

It would certainly be a good idea for you to broach this topic with your parents in one of their gentler moments.

Lastly, continue to pray to Allah to open the hearts of your parents to the truth, for He alone guides (people) to Truth. Ameen.

Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islam.ca



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Salaam (Peace be upon you), Andrea (Saleema)   "To God belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth. Whether you show what is in your own selves or conceal it, God will call you to account for it. Then He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills, for God is Able to do all things."  (Qur'an 2:284).



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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)

{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)

The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]

The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)  also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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